All I Ask
by C208 Driver
Summary: 2183 CE. For a young race from a little star system called Sol, the future is as bright as their star as they forge a future for themselves. A future that seems limitless. 164 AHL. The people from Hiigara have proven themselves. They have fought two galactic wars and won, bringing an oppressive empire crashing down and smashing aside another that sought to exterminate them.
1. Chapter 1

All I Ask

Chapter 1

"Helmsman, come around to bearing zero nine five and up ten. Weapons officer, I want a full salvo of cluster fish off the racks. Take those bastards out!" The order from the bridge came from a man who was not so much panicked as authoritative. Frigate Captain Hiirel Soban had done this more times than he had cared to count and knew full well what delayed orders would result in, namely, the crew of this ship being written on the Second Tower of Names.

"Fish are in the air and bearing down on the target." The weapons officer stated, in a calm and precise manner.

"Very good. Engineering, all ahead full and get us back to the formation." Hiirel said, relaxing a little bit more as he watched the red blips that were the enemy laser corvettes wink out of existence. The Vaygr proved to be a very capable enemy even after the end of the Second Homeworld War, and this surprise attack could have wrote the end of their careers had his sensors officer not picked up the enemy craft hiding in the debris field. He would recommend her for special commendation when they pushed this incursion back into the Eastern Fringes.

Hiirel's torpedo frigate, the _Watchful Guardian_ surged forward as it rejoined the rest of the 9th Frigate Line, proud part of the fleet _Ferin Sha_. Over the years, they had made many marked improvements to the old standby, knowing generically as the torpedo frigate. This made the workhorse of the fleet a much better response foreign aggressors.

_"Tiir's Lance_, this is _Watchful Guardian,_ we are forming up on the right flank." Hiirel said, feeling a little more relaxed now that they were once again within the security of the fleet and the tension in his jaw relaxed leaving the muscles a little sore, it was a habit that he had whenever he was in combat.

"Good to hear, _Guardian._ Get ready to make your run, we have enemy frigates that we need to clear out before we can send in the heavies." The firm voice of the commander stated.

Hiirel swallowed as he got a look at the tactical data that was just uploaded to his sensors. The enemy had established a tight perimeter around a large cluster of mineral-rich asteroids. There was at least a three dozen heavy missile frigates and assault frigates holding position with a pair of destroyers and a carrier that was in the process of mining the materials, not to mention the normal assortment of strike craft and combat corvettes that the Vaygr were known for.

"All right people, secure the bulkheads and rig for red." Hiirel said, standing up from his commander's chair, he straightened his uniform and left the bridge with the rest of the command crew. Heading down the corridors of the ship, they made their way to the secondary bridge of the vessel deep within the core of the ship, a place that would allow them to keep fighting until the end. While the primary bridge, located in a boom on the right aft section of the ship gave them a commanding view of the area of battle, it was notoriously vulnerable.

"Sir, all optics are online and secondary bridge is active. Damage control reports that all bulkheads are sealed, we are ready for heavy action." A young officer said, approaching the captain and gave his report while a large screen displayed on a previously black wall, giving them a projection that they would normally see from the primary bridge.

"Well, as ready as we will ever be." Hiirel said to himself, standing around the Kordiin Industries Tactical Overlay and Command Module, or just sensors manager to the crew. The two meter by two meter 'table' displayed a three dimensional projection of the area of battle. His ship was a little green dot, while other Hiigaran ships were blue. Blue spheres denoted the sensors range of friendly ships while the red dots were the enemy. It was almost laughably simplistic in its interface, but also effective. A message scrolled across the bottom of the interface on a little text screen and he looked up at his crew.

"All right, this is it." Hiirel said, looking up at his crew in the room bathed in red lighting to denote combat stations. "Engineering, ahead full and weapons, load the racks with anti-capital ship torpedoes. Let's bag us some frigates." Hiirel felt the slight surge as the dual fusion plants producing over four hundred thousand Italiis of thrust propelled them towards the enemy.

"Gunnery control, targets frigates three, five, nine and fourteen." Hiirel said, watching at a secondary overlay reticle came over the enemy in question. "Weapons control, open fire," Hiirel ordered, as the four torpedoes left the tubes and began on their course to the enemy ships. The tiny blips disappeared as they met up with the targets, and Hiirel knew what was happening from his years in the fleet. These new torpedoes were called frigate killers for good reason.

"Targets destroyed." His tactical officer announced, but Hiirel was busy watching the sensors manager and didn't really respond to him.

"Sir, one of the Vaygr destroyers has moved, up. They're targeting us." The young sensors officer told him and he could see what she meant.

"Helm, right turn bearing two-two zero, port roll thirty degrees and forty degrees nose down!" Hiirel barked, grabbing the railing surrounding the sensors manager as the inertial dampers struggled to keep up with the strain, the same could be said for the superstructure of the ship that groaned under the aggressive maneuver. He felt the ship shudder as the rounds from the destroyer's turret impacted the hull, to herald what would come.

"Sir, incoming missiles!" His tactical officer said, almost screaming under the strain of battle.

"Countermeasures, deploy decoys on my mark," Hiirel said as he watched the hostile indicators close in on his ship. "Mark!" Hiirel shouted over the din of proximity alarms blaring on the deck. "Engineering, emergency thrust!"

The maneuver mostly paid off, two of the fusion missiles streaked off and detonated on the decoys but two others found their mark. One missile slammed into the top of the ship a third way back, the nuclear detonation blew away hull plate and tore into the ship's protective hide. Yet this was the reason for adding the roll in the combat maneuver, the topside of the frigate's plate was the strongest. The second missile struck near the aft, punching through the weaker armor that surrounded the engines.

The ship made cries that chilled the blood of everyone on the ship as the warhead detonated and blew apart the port fusion chamber. Hiirel was about to give his next orders as the secondary explosion threw him violently off his feet to the side, slamming his head hard into a console and his world began to spin.

"Venting procedures…get…" Hiirel said weakly as everything went dark.

* * *

"Fall back! Suppressing fire, watch for flaking maneuvers!" The woman in white armor shouted while firing from her position behind what remained of a cargo truck as rounds ricocheted off the truck and a few bounced off her kinetic barriers.

"Chief, Phillips is dead! We can't take much more of this shit!" A young soldier in grey armor said, taking up position beside her.

Ashley knew this was FUBAR as soon as the comms went offline, and should have known something was not right. However, the LT wanted a patrol so she went on patrol. "All right. We make it for the comm array, see if we can't get a signal through the interference."

Ashley laid down suppressive fire as her squad began to withdraw. "Damn it bravo! I said withdraw, not retreat. Get your asses into cover and lay down a base of fire for alpha!" Ashley tried to get her head around the situation, but no matter how many hostiles they dropped, they just seemed to be coming out of the woodwork.

"All right alpha, move beyond bravo's position and get your asses behind cover on that ridge. Go, go, go!" Ashley yelled as she sprayed one more fusillade of bullets at the enemy's muzzle flashes and sprinted up the incline, she could see the transmitter on top of the ridge and with any luck, the semi-prepared position would offer more cover than this ravine from hell.

Ashley felt her legs pumping her as fast as she could, using the momentum of her arms and the weapon she carried to propel her forward as best she could. Every once in a while, she could feel rounds impacting against her kinetic barriers until she finally made it to cover, hurtling over the low sandbag wall and rolling to a prone position. She re-oriented herself and got to a crouch position, bringing her rifle to bear, she began once again to fire on the enemy. There was four bodies of her men on the ground, there was no point in getting to them. They were dead, the best she could do was try and save the rest.

"All right, bravo, if you want to live you better double time it right now!" Ashley barked as she did her best to cover her men. While she dropped a few more, as she could tell by the squeal they made when they died, another odd thing, it was just too much and another three fell to the enemy.

"All right, Miller. Get that array up and humming. We're going to get overrun if we stay here too long." Ashley said as she surveyed the enemy. They were still moving in, she could see by the way that the foliage moved. Whoever these guys were, they were not too concerned about losses as they surged forward. Banzai. That's what it reminded her of. History lessons of the Pacific campaign in the 20th. These guys seemed to have the same aggressive approach, attacking Alliance marines head on was not a recipe for minimizing casualties.

"Get down!" Ashley yelled at Miller, he had taken the camera drone and was panning it around the battlezone. The man was obviously not thinking clearly. Ashely laid down fire on some more of the hostiles.

"We need evac! Taking heavy casualties! They came out of nowhere, we need…" His message was cut short as she saw him taken out by enemy rounds. Her attention was drawn to the sky, no words could convey what see was seeing but the additional sounds snapped her out of it immediately.

"Incoming! Take cover!" Ashley yelled, diving for cover as the ground seemed to be erupting all around her and covering her with soil as she looked at the carnage. Most of her men were in far worse shape, having been caught in the open. The ones that had not died right away were moving very slowly, having been torn to shreds by the artillery rounds.

"Chief, we need to leave now!" Ashley looked up to see the older Indian female, private Bhatia with a look of terror in her eyes.

Ashley did not need to be told twice as she made it to her feet, the dust still setting gave them a smoke screen as they headed off the knoll and down into another ravine, running as fast as they could. It was not something that she would have liked her superiors to see, giving them more ammunition but at this moment, she did not care. At the very least she would get herself and this private out of this hellhole. She would be back, and make sure she dropped ten of those bastards for every man she lost.

* * *

Commander Sophia Shepard stared at the transmission with complete and utter disbelief, not a moment ago she was warned by Nihlus about how dangerous the galaxy could be and now Eden Prime looked like Elysium. Although these were not Batarians or any other normal assortment of bad guys, the rounds that she heard on the transmission were phasic, she bet her life on it. Then there was Satan's cuttlefish descending onto the colony, she knew from experience that those marines were toast.

"Joker, status report." Sophia heard Captain Anderson say over the comms, breaking her attention from the feed.

"Seventeen minutes out, no other Alliance ship in the area." The voice of the pilot came over the comms. She had a talk with him earlier, he seemed a little paranoid about having the Turian Spectre on board, but she knew a little paranoia was needed from their helmsman. Especially on a recon frigate.

"Okay, take us in, fast and quiet." Anderson said and looked to Sophia. "Tell Alenko and Jenkins to suit up and meet us in the cargo bay."

Sophia gave a curt military nod and left the comm room and looked to the young corporal who was still talking with the ship's doctor. "Well Jenkins, seems you got your wish. Gear up and get yourself down to the cargo bay. Eden Prime is under attack, we've got a mission profile." Sophia said as she tied her black hair into a ponytail and headed down to the next level to talk to the next man on her squad.

"Commander Shepard, I'm guessing we've got a job to do?" The young officer said, already stowing his datapads of reports and meeting up with the commander.

"Good eye, LT. Yeah, things have gone to hell down on Eden Prime, there's a Prothean beacon that we need to pick up before the unknown hostiles cart it away." Sophia said as the two of them walked down to the elevator and were down to the level where Nihlus and Anderson were already waiting. Alenko and Jenkins wasted no time and were down to their under layers in no time and secured their armor and weapons.

The two soldiers formed up with Sophia and stood at attention in front of Anderson as he gave his orders. "You're team is the muscle in this operation, go in heavy and head straight for the dig site." There was no mincing words, the captain had his priorities and that beacon was the primary mission objective.

"What about survivors, captain?" The voice was that of Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko.

"Searching for survivors is a secondary objective. The beacon is your top priority." The captain re-iterated clearly what he had implied with his previous order. She understood the lieutenant, this was a human colony and these were just civilians and it was clear he wanted to help them, but Sophia knew that whatever this beacon was, they couldn't let the enemy obtain such an asset.

"Nihlus, you're coming with us?" Sophia heard now Jenkins speak up, the squad must be nervous given how talkative they were being, hopefully that would not continue on the ground.

"I move faster on my own." Sophia heard Nihlus say, which made her slightly nervous. He was an unknown and given that he warned her about how dangerous the galaxy could be just before the distress signal came through, it was a coincidence. Sophia didn't believe in consequences.

"Nihlus will scout ahead and feed you status reports, otherwise I want radio silence." Sophia smiled slightly at the captain's order, the translation was '_mouths shut and eyes on target'._

Sophia watched as Nihlus left the ship at the first drop point and her pulse increased slightly as they approached the second drop point. This mission could go almost any direction, and given the spotty intel, it could go south very quickly.

"Approaching drop point two." Sophia heard the pilot say. _This was it,_ she thought as she stepped off the ship to once again test the fates.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Warning, warning. Primary drives offline, ship operating on secondary power. Multiple hull breaches detected. Fire control offline." The electronic voice caused Hiirel to stir once again, coughing on the smoke from burning electronics.

"If this is the end of the Shimmering Path, I've been screwed." Hirrel groaned as he grasped the back of a chair and looked around at the room and at the face of the ship's medical officer.

"Well, you suffered no brain damage, you jokes are just as bad." The older man with greying hair and a cropped beard grunted as he applied a bandage around Hiirel's head and helped the captain to his feet.

"Damage report." Hiirel said as he got his bearings, seeing that it looked like the ship had just survived a storm. There were countless bands of cabling and broken plate dangling from the ceiling as well as strewn across the command deck as well as half of the control panels had been burnt out. Some of the crew were lying on the deck, either unconscious or dead while the ones that were still at their station suffered some degree of injury. The heat and the smell of oxidized wire mixed with blood made him sick to the stomach.

"Vaygr missile tore into the port fusion chamber, we're lucky to be alive." His XO stated to him, his tone grave at the seriousness of the situation and approached the captain, his left arm in some sort of sling.

"Luck had nothing to do with it, you people did a damn fine job. First thing first, we need power." Hiirel said, looking up as they were down to the dim blue lights of emergency power and the same could be said for life support.

"Sorry sir, but we can't raise engineering and there is at least two bulkheads down between us and them, sensors at the blast door indicate hard vacuum in that corridor." The XO replied being interrupted by the ship's sensors officer approaching them and cleared her throat.

"Sir, I may have a work-around." The young officer who was most likely not a day over twenty two said with black hair and eyes that seemed to shine a bright green even in the dimly lit room.

"Let's hear it Lieutenant." Hiirel said as he handed back the information tablet that the XO had given him with the preliminary report.

"Well sir, the corridors may not be an option, but the stern magazine and loading tubes are still intact. As the weapons system is offline, we could use the tube to make our way to the stern magazine that is just a few decks below engineering." The woman explained, as a smile came across the face of the captain.

"I like the way you think. Commander LiirHra, you have the conn." Hiirel said, gesturing for the lieutenant to follow.

"Conn aye, sir." The man slightly to Hiirel's junior said, taking over damage control assessment.

The two of them headed down the corridor, the dim light forcing them to take it slow at not to run into any low bulkheads until they came up to a closed door with the symbol of a weapon over the door. Hiirel approached the round wheel and turned it until the door opened, having to resort to manual controls as most electronic locks were down. "Why the arsenal, sir?" The lieutenant asked, her tone making it clear she was confused at the detour.

"Lieutenant, at times like this, it is never a good idea to be without a gun. Gear up, we must be ready for anything." The heavy door opened with a groan and the lights flickered on as motion detectors picked up their presence. Once inside, the pair of them stripped down to the underweave that was navy standard and served as both basic undergarments and padding for armor.

Opening a pair of lockers, the two of them went about donning the various pieces of armor that hooked loosely together. When all the pieces were in place, they took a pair of black devices that were about the size of the captain's forearm. The captain affixed these devices to the lieutenant's back and the lieutenant did the same for the captain. This caused a keypad on their right forearms to glow and they punched in a series of commands that in turn cause the loose pieces of the armor to suck together with a click and the two of them were now covered from neck to toe in light blue combat armor. When the process was complete, the pair walked over to a locker and took out a helmet each that they donned that secured with a hiss and then shouldered shortened battle rifles and side arms. The captain and young lieutenant then made their way down the corridors until they reached an auxiliary ladder way that would take them down to an access hatch on the stern magazine loading tube. Hiirel opened the hatch and gestured for the lieutenant to take the lead.

"I didn't get your name, officer." Hiirel said as they descended their way into the bowels of the ship, the only other sound being the clanging of their armored boots against the ladder and echoing through the ship.

"Anya S'jet." The woman said, descending down and using a flashlight she had taken from an emergency hatch on the wall, flooding the area with light. "My first posting after graduation."

Hiirel was impressed, but this was to be almost expected given the way that Hiigarans actually educated their officer corps. Over the decades, Sobani military academies had become the mainstay of the navy and as such, their academy graduates had served aboard the fleet before they had actually graduated. 'The gods of war make the bet tutors,' was an old saying famed to have been coined by Soban the Red himself. "I like the way you think, outside the box."

"Well, we don't have much in the way of options, do we? Either we do this or hope that engineering can fix the problem by themselves." Anya said, while the captain had a good idea what had happened to the non-responsive engineering crew.

"Well, let's get this over with, then." Hiirel said as he reached the landing where Anya was waiting.

"Here, hold this sir." She said, handing the flashlight to him while she worked with the release hatch. As it came off with a metallic clang, the light shone into the tube, once again reminding them how much firepower that even a humble frigate housed.

Anya looked back at the captain and smiled. "Easy to forget that our torpedo boats fire weapons the size of private transports."

"Indeed it is." Hiirel said, handing back the flashlight, taking the lead and dropping into the large cylindrical structure and listened for Anya to drop to the floor with a much lighter sound.

He looked back at her for a second, "let me guess, you have actually been to a Ferin Sha?" He said, knowing the footwork personally.

"I have some Manaani friends who taught me a few lessons and I've been to one or two, how did you…" Anya began and clearly figured it out. "Another life with another name, say no more, sir."

Reaching the far end of the loading tube, Anya began working at a console and within a few minutes, the hatch opened up and revealed the cavernous stern magazine and the massive torpedoes in its inventory. "Okay, we just need to find a way to engineering." There was a slight shudder and both of them froze into position before diving for cover.

"Infiltrator pods?" Anya asked as she loaded the magazine into the side feed of her Raachok V battle rifle and heard the hum of its power source winding up as she took it off its safeties.

"That's about right, hope you're ready to be eyebrow deep in Vaygr warriors." Hiirel said, his own weapon primed and ready. "Just be careful what you shoot at." He said, pointing to the racks of torpedoes and their fuel tanks.

"Right." Was all that Anya responded with.

"Don't worry lieutenant. Used to serve with the 15th, they'll never know what hit them." The captain did his best to reassure the lieutenant as both of them knew this would not be an easy fight. It was just one of those days.

* * *

_Shit, I can't wait for this to be over._ Ashley thought to herself as herself and the private…wait, she was a serviceman and not a private. Damn, those lessons paid off, and the older woman was not doing too badly for a squid. They rounded another bend in the ravine and she could see the monorail construction site in the distance. If anything, she should be able to round up some fresh blocks for her Lancer and if she was lucky maybe even link up with what remained of the 232, although as she got closer, those odds looked even worse.

"Damn it." She muttered to herself as she looked back at Serviceman Bhatia who was checking her gear. While the woman carried a Kessler pistol, to which she put to good use, her main gear was medigel and other equipment for keeping soldiers alive in the heat of battle. Nirali had once explained to her that despite what the public thought, Medigel only worked as a field bandage and serious wounds like broken ribs, punctured lungs and myriad of other nasty injuries on the battlefield still required the more tedious work of a marine corpsman and in the worst cases, a field surgeon.

"Chief, there is nothing we could do." Nirali tried to assure Ashley, who despite her best effort was trying to stow such heavy losses in such a short time. They were her responsibility and she walked them right into an ambush.

"I know serviceman. I know," Ashley said, reigning herself in and getting her head back into the game. Using the spotting optics on her Lancer, Ashley began to scan the area around the transit hub that had been set up as a forward base of operations. There were a few small fire fires burning, but nothing in the way of movement. Ashley scanned the area further, but it appeared to be quiet, so she signalled Nirali and they made their way down the embankment to the hub.

"Stay frosty, Bhatia." Ashley whispered as they entered the area. The hub had an array of smaller structures, mostly storage sheds for supplies that would be ferried on the cargo cars of the monorail. There were a few scattered supplies of cargo crates and the occasional body but given the level of carnage, there should have been more.

"Chief, look at these smears. Someone dragged the bodies out of here. Who would do that?" Nirali whispered as they continued to search the area, neither of them separating far. Ashley took the lead, and Nirali followed behind. She walked backwards with her back to Ashley in hopes that they would be aware of anyone approaching. The corps called it three hundred sixty degree security.

Ashley looked around as well, the serviceman was right. This did not fit the MO of any sort of merc or slaver group she could think of, taking the bodies of the dead could not be of value to anyone, so why take them?

"Contact!" Ashley's thoughts were interrupted as she heard the bark of the serviceman's sidearm and the familiar sound of automatic weapons fire, forced her to turn around just as Nirali was stitched with fire, cutting through her barriers.

"Goddamn it!" Ashley screamed as she fired on two of the enemies that got in close enough. At the same time as they fell to the ground, she shouldered her weapon on her magnetic clip and pulled the fallen corpsman behind a crate.

"Chief, sorry I…" The woman began, coughing up some blood.

"Hey, Bhatia. You're going to be fine, this is nothing. I have medigel." Ashley said, swallowing a lump in her throat.

Nirali forced a weak smile. "No chief, I told you medigel doesn't…" Her coughing fits were stronger and Ashley could hear a deep rasping sound in her breathing, both of them knew what was coming, but Ashley was holding onto hope, even if it was false hope.

"Chief. Tell Samesh…tell him..I…" She never finished the statement. Ashley closed her eyes for a moment, if Nirali's people were right and Ashley's people were wrong, the good that this corpsman had done would see that she came back to be born into a loving family. Although Ashley could think of no one that she would want more as a guardian angel.

Her thoughts were snapped immediately back to reality as she heard that stuttering sound and pulled her shotgun off her back. "All right assholes, you screwed with the wrong marines." Ashley said as she got up from cover and shot the nearest being at point blank in the head as it chirped and stuttered, falling to the ground in its death kneel.

Once again she ducked for cover and looked over at the corpse of one of the dead enemies and thought for a moment. These creatures were not organic, but synthetic. The conclusion did not sit well with her when she noticed a strange sound. "Oh you've got to be kidding me."

Coming over the buildings were some sort of drones, firing their autocannons at her. Knowing she would eventually get overrun, she waited for the fire to die down one more and bolted out of the courtyard and just kept on running. She jumped down a small terrace and continued down a gentle slope and sprinted down the ravine with the enemy drones hot on her heels, firing away at her with their weapons. Survival was the only thing on her mind, she wanted to live.

* * *

"Area secure, Commander." Lieutenant Alenko had informed Sophia as they scanned for targets at their landing zone.

"A little early to announce that, isn't it LT?" Jenkins piped up, to which Sophia looked back at the pair, her demeanor was gravely serious.

"Sorry ma'am." Jenkins stated.

"Don't be sorry, get your guard up and watch your sectors. Assume hostiles." Sophia said as she took point, her Storm shotgun at the ready and feeling that particular prickle of energy at the back of her neck as she signaled her team forward. The place was eerily quiet given what she expected to run into, but it fit what combat really was. Hours of boredom, moments of terror. Her brow wrinkled as she saw strange creatures just floating around the carnage.

"Gasbags, don't worry. Completely harmless." Jenkins said softly, it was clear that he took Sophia's correction to heart and only gave out pertinent information.

The trio continued through the devastated countryside, seeing nothing but burnt bodies and those gasbags. Coming around a bend, Shepard could see that the rise that they were coming up on would leave them dangerously exposed.

She signalled for Jenkins to move up and to the far cover on her left while she watched from a rear guard position. It was then that she heard and then saw them, strange drones that opened fire almost immediately on Jenkins. The man was a goner even while his brain was still processing that he was under attack.

"Shit!" Sophia cursed as she sprinted for the left cover and Kaiden took the right.

"Alenko! Let's give 'em a one, two!" Sophia commanded and waited for Kaiden to begin the move they had practiced. Within moments, he unleashed a sabotage on the hostile drones, overloading their weapons. Not wasting any time, Sophia followed up with a flare of biotic energy that manifested itself as a warp field. She fired her shotgun at the near pair of drones, catching both of them in the blast, and weakened by the wrap field the drones detonated as Kaiden took out the remaining one with his pistol.

"Good work LT." Sophia said, keeping her shotgun at low ready, she approached to where Kaiden was standing over Jenkins and had closed the man's eyes out of respect.

"Ripped right through his shields, never stood a chance." Kaiden said to Sophia, and she could see his Adam's apple flex from emotion.

"Lieutenant, he died fighting for this colony and as a hero. We'll see to it that he gets a proper funeral when we finish up here, but until we dust off I need to you to stay on mission. Are you with me LT?" Sophia asked, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"You can count on me ma'am." Alenko nodded as he returned back to combat stance.

"Good to hear. We're down a man, so I'll take point. Bounding cover, no unnecessary risks." Sophia said as the headed out in the direction of the colony.

As it would turn out, they faced a much harder fight than she anticipated. There were more of these drones, but they were not Alliance drones or any other drones she had seen before. Much smaller, with more elegant lines and more agile, although not as tough to kill, still deadly.

"Alenko, knock 'em off their feet!" Sophia said as she distracted another group in the trees. The Lieutenant's biotic attack caused the drones to crash into the ground, clearly tumbling their gyros. Sophia walked up to them and finished them off with her shotgun.

"Hell of a lot more resistance than I expected." Kaiden said, to which Sophia looked back at him, he wouldn't have said that if he saw the feed from that marine company. She was about to respond when she reeled around at hearing more drone automatic weapons fire, but could not see where it was coming from.

"Double time it, LT. We've got allies out there somewhere." Sophia said, running down the opening of a ravine, and immediately taking cover as she noticed a human in Phoenix armor being chased by a pair of the drones. She watched as her kinetic barriers fell and expected her to fall as well only to see her spin as she hit the ground and simultaneously took out her sidearm and dispatched the drones. She would have continued to watch had she not seen a pair of strange creatures making strange noises holding a partially sedated colonist over a platform and recoiled in horror as a massive spike shot out of the platform and impaled the colonist.

"My God." She heard Kaiden whisper as the soldier on the ground scrambled for cover and took out her assault rifle.

The hostiles were too focused on the marine, which allowed Sophia to hit the nearest target with a warp as Kaiden gunned it down with his pistol, the lieutenant then used a sabotage on the far target and allowed the marine to take down the enemy with a barrage of bullets.

"Ma'am am I sure glad to see you, I thought that was it for me." The marine said as Sophia approached.

"Soldier, what's the situation here?" Sophia asked, securing her shotgun as Kaiden had security well at hand.

"It's FUBAR ma'am. I'm Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the two one two, Second Frontier division. I was out on patrol with my men when these hostiles attacked, caught us with our pants right around our ankles, I've been fighting for my life ever since." Sophia heard the chief explain, seeing from her facial expressions that she was clearly fatigued.

"Where's the rest of your unit, chief? Who are we fighting?" Sophia said, prodding the soldier for information.

"They're wasted ma'am, like I said, caught out in the open. We got obliterated, we sent off a signal but the Geth cut off our comms." Ashely said, the soldier looking around.

"Wait, did you say Geth?" Kaiden piped up. "They haven't been outside the veil in over two centuries, why would they be here? We're humans. Hell, we were still using steamships when they drove the Quarians into exile."

"I'm guessing that beacon drew their attention. Must say, you did good with that message, gave us a much needed warning. You fit to fight, Williams?" Sophia asked, seeing as she looked a little worse for wear.

"Hell yeah, ma'am. I intend on making these synthetic bastards pay for what they did." Ashley said, her look of determination clear on her face.

"Well, then let's find that beacon." Sophia said as the chief lead the way.

"Williams…where did I hear that name before?" Sophia said as they headed off to wrap up the mission.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"They're almost through," the captain whispered to the lieutenant through his helmet's short range transmitter. His eyes were fixed on the square sections of the hull that were starting to glow a dim and then bright orange as the plasma torches from the infiltrator pods were almost through the hull. He stole a glace over at the lieutenant to see that she was in a proper crouched position, out of sight but ready to open up on the hostiles at his order.

"Wait until they get out of the pods, if we're lucky they won't get a chance to call in reinforcements." The captain was an old hand at this and knew that the Vaygr infiltrator frigate only had a limited supply of men and if they delayed long enough, all the reinforcements will have already been sent to other sections of the ship. As the cutting torches were almost through, Hiirel once again crouched behind his crate, and though it had been years since he held a rifle in combat, it all came back pretty quickly.

"On my signal, lieutenant." The captain slowed his breathing down so he could hear his environment with a greater degree of clarity. The loud metallic booming sound was unmistakable as the cutting torches had finished their work, their cut-outs from the hull falling to the deck plate. This was followed by the clanging of boots as Vaygr warriors moved into the large room through the holes they had made. He could tell that they were Vaygr from the orders being shouted, each species had a very unique accent even though they all spoke Galactic Standard. In this case, it was a very deep and strained sound, one that was spoken from the gut. To the Hiigaran ear it was very harsh, compared to the much softer pronounced Hiigaran dialect.

"Now!" Hiirel ordered as he quickly reeled out of cover and opened up on the Vaygr with his battle rifle, the distinct buzzing sound as small calibre rapid fire rounds exited the weapon and tore into the weaker armor plate around the neck of the Vaygr squad leader, the man clutching his neck as he fell backwards to the ground. The lieutenant had followed suit on a much closer support gunner, and while there were more stray rounds, she still hit her mark and the soldier fell to the wayside in a very similar manner to his superior.

Not staying there, he moved right, using the crates and equipment as cover while he signalled Anya to move left. While not a small man, compared to the Vaygr he was slight in comparison and there was no way they could go toe to toe with them in open combat. Being physically stronger, the Vaygr warriors had stronger armor and more powerful weapons and the only chance a Hiigaran had in a fight was to out-maneuver them.

Taking up position behind some loading equipment, Hiirel to peek around the cover to get a look at how many they were actually dealing with. Slowly leaning out of cover, he was met with a hail of bullets, forcing him once again behind cover. "Lieutenant, I need a base of fire so I can get some numbers." Seconds later, the report of Anya's weapon forced the fire in her direction and allowed the captain to see what they were up against. It was not nearly as bad as he thought, they were up against three support gunners, five warriors and a pair of techs.

While the enemy was preoccupied with shooting at Anya he let out an accurate burst of fire, taking down another support gunner. Pulling back again he sprinted to cover behind a large loading crane and looked up, the crane had a full cradle of loading rods and that gave him an idea and he opened up his comms with the lieutenant.

"LT, I need you to shift fire left, get behind cover and begin hitting the enemy and force them back about behind the cover behind them," Hiirel said as he waited behind cover. He almost got taken out when a burst of fire went wide over his head, as a Vaygr warrior flanked him. Acting on instinct, he returned fire, first firing at his chest plate that caused him to stagger back and then placed a shot at the enemy's knee joint that forced him to collapse as the rounds punched through the weaker and more flexible armor, obliterating his kneecap in the process. He finished this off with a shot to the neck and the warrior fell to the ground.

About this time, the sustained fire from the lieutenant had forced the enemy back to exactly where he wanted and he reached into the cab of the crane and pulled the release. The long, heavy rods slid off the cradle into the group of Vaygr, several of them getting impaled by the equipment and forcing the few to scatter. From there it was a simple matter of taking out the remaining soldiers that fell rather quickly now that they were under sustained crossfire and out in the open.

"That was close, I suggest we get going before more show up." Anya said, and judging by her tone, she was rather disturbed by the gruesome sight before her. Some of the rods had enough momentum that they jammed into the deck plating and pinned the Vaygr soldiers there. One was even making his last desperate gasps for air as Hiirel pulled out his sidearm and put the soldier out of his misery.

"First time in combat, lieutenant?" Hiirel asked with a bemused expression.

"With all due respect, sir, this? I never expected this, it's…" She began, referring to the carnage.

"It's war, lieutenant. Sometimes we forget that there are people of flesh and blood manning these ships. Just because all we see is a plume of fire from the bridge, does not make it any better." Hiirel said as he opened the hatch that would gain them access to engineering.

"Yes, sir." Anya had replied to the captain, and shouldered her weapon.

Hiirel approved of her reaction, the fact that she was not fine with what had transpired let him know that her head was on straight. He had seen plenty of officers that showed promise, and either they couldn't handle this or just did not see the gravity of it. In his opinion, both were equally dangerous to the Hiigaran Navy.

* * *

"Okay Williams, something tells me that we should be seeing the beacon." Sophia said as they reached the dig site after clearing out half a dozen Geth troopers.

"This is the site, it must have been moved." Ashley said while mentally berating herself for not taking notice when she had fled the area from the drones.

"By our side or the Geth?" Kaiden piped up, looking over at Ashley.

"Hard to say, the research site is just up that rise. If we're lucky there might be someone alive up there who can tell us what happened to it." Ashley suggested.

"Right, let's move out." Sophia ordered and then paused. "Our scout is going to check out something at the docks, he'll wait for us there."

The two other nodded their heads and moved out, Sophia taking point as they made it up the rise, Ashley took notice of how there were more colonists on spikes but something was happening to them. "Good place for an ambush, keep your guard up." Kaiden had mentioned just as the spikes began to descend.

Ashley recoiled in horror at what she saw as Kaiden spoke up, "oh God, they're still alive." Ashley couldn't believe the people, no, creatures that they had been turned into.

"What did the Geth do to them?" Was all she could say as she heard the commander open up on the creatures with a shotgun blast.

"They're dead Williams, get your head in the game! Alenko, you start hitting them or I'll shoot you myself!" Sophia snapped at the two as she unleashed a warp at the enemy. Within moments, the creatures fell to the ground.

"Williams, Alenko. Front and center." Sophia said, looking at the pair and her gaze hard as iron. "I'll make this quick. Those colonists were dead the moment they were impaled, they are no longer human. Freezing up like that only gets people killed, and if I ever see either one of you hesitating in the heat of battle again, I will personally keel haul you. Is that clear?" The look on her face made it abundantly clear that she was not screwing around.

"Okay, we need to figure this one out fast. Alenko, that door looks sealed, open it up. Whoever went through the trouble of locking it must have valuable intel stored. Williams, you're on security." Sophia said, indicating where she wanted her to set up a perimeter.

Ashley couldn't believe how bad things had gone in the last few hours, her squad was wiped out, civilians butchered like cattle and her own fortitude in battle seemed to waver in face of such loss. She always believed that she would hold up in the face of insurmountable odds, sure she had survived, but that had to do more with dumb luck than with skill or determination. She would do her utmost not to screw up any further in this mission as this would probably be the last time that she saw combat after the commander submitted her report to the brass.

"Humans, thank the maker!" Ashley turned around to see that Alenko had managed the door with a familiar pair coming out of the storage shed.

"Doctor Warren, you made it?" Ashley said, clearly dumbfounded at her survival.

"The marines….they…they held off the enemy long enough for us to hide. They gave their lives to save us." The tone and downward eyes made it clear that she was suffering survivor's guilt.

"No one is safe, the end of humanity has come. Only ruin and corpses will remain." The pitch of the voice belonged to that of the doctor's assistant that she thought was a little off, and what he said disturbed her more than she expected.

"Listen, nothing has ended except this Geth incursion. Williams, you know these people." Sophia said referring to the odd pair, and clearly not a fan of the male.

"Yeah, Doctor Warren was in charge of the dig site and this is her assistant, Manuel." Ashley explained and then returned to her duty of checking for more Geth.

"So doctor, that Prothean beacon. You wouldn't happen to know where it is, would you?" The commander stated, her voice optimistic.

"We moved it to the spaceport this morning." Doctor Warren stated and looked at the group, her hands fidgeting in anticipation. "So, what do we do now?"

"Hold tight, reinforcements are on the way, Alliance relief teams will be here shortly to take the two of you away from here." Sophia said and looked over at Ashley. "Williams, take us to the spaceport."

Ashley took the lead, and then stopped dead in her tracks when she saw a large object in the distance. It was a ship, but it was larger than anything she had ever seen before. How did it land on a planet and then take off again? The lack of movement from the other two, was a clear sign that both Kaiden and Sophia had similar thoughts. These thoughts were interrupted as Ashley picked up movement. Taking out her Avenger sniper rifle, she sighted down to the platform of the spaceport and picked up two Geth troopers heading down the stairs. She smiled as she squeezed off a round, hitting the nearby plasma container and killing both in the blast radius.

"Nice shot, Williams. Alenko, let's finish these bastards off and get to the bottom of this." Sophia said, the two biotics making short work of the creatures that were once human. Heading down the hill, they stopped as the commander leveled her shotgun over at a door that was opening.

"Hey, we're coming out and we're not armed!" A male voice said as three people came out of the storage shed they were hiding in. They approached the commander who then asked questions in regards to the strange ship, the attack and the beacon. They were about to leave when one of them spoke to the other.

"Hey Cole, these guys are soldiers, we're just farmers. Maybe we should just give them the stuff." This immediately got a reaction out of Shepard while this Cole tried to silence him.

"You've got something you want to tell me Cole?" The commander asked, while Ashley just wanted to beat it out of them, especially when it became clear that they were smugglers. Eventually it was explained that they were running a small ring and they even got a pistol out of the deal. The commander looked it over and then handed it back to Alenko as it was obvious she preferred her shotgun. Ashley was partial to her own assault rifle and sniper rifle so it only made sense.

They left the smugglers when they learned of the contact on the docks and headed up the stairs, and to Ashley's surprise, there was a body on the ground. The body was Turian.

"Commander, it's Nihlus." Kaiden said, which got her attention even more.

"You know him?" Ashley asked, assuming it was a him, but she could never tell with aliens but the name seemed masculine.

"Our scout, he…" Shepard began and was interrupted by movement, Ashley was quick to bring up her assault rifle to bear.

"For the love of God, don't shoot!" The man shouted in a panicked state.

"Sneaking up on us like that, nearly got your head blown off." Sophia growled at the man, earning a very rapid apology from him.

Every word this Powell spoke just made Ashley's blood boil more and more, but when she heard about the theft of the grenades, that's what tore it. She stormed up to the crates that he was standing behind, grabbed him by the shirt with both hands and pulled him halfway over the crates so that their faces were only inches apart. "You greedy son of a bitch! Were out here trying to protect your sorry ass, and all you can think of is how you can rip us off?!" She yelled in his face, the furrowed brow and the fact that she was nearly shaking with rage, put the fear of God in the man.

"Look, I didn't know! Who would want to attack Eden Prime? We're just a bunch of farmers!" The man said, with pleading eyes he looked over to the commander.

"Chief, let him go. Powell is going to hand us the grenades and any other military hardware that might be lying around that we could use against the Geth, unless he would like me and Lieutenant Alenko to stand back while Williams here gives a practical explanation of why stealing from marines is a bad idea?" Sophia said, evaluating the man with her arms folded across her chest.

"Yes, of course! Look, I didn't want anyone to get hurt, I'm really sorry. My smuggling days are over, I swear. There was even this, some experimental tech. Please, take it." Powell said as Ashley released the man and the three of them headed out again.

Powell had also relayed to them information that the Geth had moved the beacon onto the cargo train and taken it to the far platform. They followed his directions and ran into more Geth, this group one of the more concentrated among the others they had faced. Reaching the controls, Sophia looked over the other two in her group and checked how they were doing.

"Alenko, excellent work on tossing those big bastards around like rag dolls and making sure their weapons were essentially useless. Chief, that was some pretty respectable field of fire you laid down and those headshots were impressive. Especially since you're carrying around standard issue weapons. Is either of you injured?" Shepard has asked, looking both of them in the eye. "No heroics, you may think an injury is small, but coming off an adrenaline high can keep you from thinking straight."

"I'm good ma'am. My shields went down a couple of times, but was able to recover without taking too much hits on the armor and you know how effective Sirta armor is at keeping soldiers alive in the field." Ashley said, assuring the commander that she had not in fact taken any injuries.

"I took a couple shots, but my armor held up." Kaiden said as they once again headed out, Shepard entering the command controls on the train.

The train headed the short distance to the other platform and came to a gentle lurch as it stopped, Ashley looked down the gradual ramp and saw what she really didn't want to see. "You have got to be kidding me." Ashley grumbled as Kaiden approached the bomb.

"Demolition charges, the Geth must have planted them." Kaiden said as he crouched down and began working at the keypad.

"Can you find a workaround?" Sophia said, maintaining composure as a couple of round zipped by her head. "Williams, take care of that asshole."

Ashley took out her sniper rifle and dropped the Geth in question as Kaiden worked. "Shouldn't be a problem ma'am, looks like they took these from a blast site."

"All right. Williams, you and I will provide overwatch. We need to disarm these explosives and finish off the rest of the Geth in the area." Shepard said as Ashley took point and the three of them moved up the walkway and worked clockwise around to the platform. The two women worked in unison, Sophia weakened the enemy with her biotic attacks and Ashley took them down with her assault rifle. Kaiden would provide tech attacks when he could, but as he was the bomb tech, he was busy completing that task.

"That's the last one, Shepard. I…" Kaiden began and slumped down next to the explosives.

"Alenko!" Shepard said, pulling back at once of the ceramic plate's on Kaiden's armor. "Shit. Deflective shot, hold still while we get this finished up." Sophia said as she got on her communicator. "Normandy, we need a CASEVAC on my position." Shepard then looked up to Ashley. "Williams, you have eyes on the beacon?"

"Yes ma'am, we're almost there. Just a few bad guys left." Ashley said from cover as the few remaining troopers had engaged her.

"Secure that paperweight, Normandy is enroute." Sophia said.

Ashley did as she was instructed and took out the remaining hostiles with the precision expected of an Alliance marine. It was helped that for once she had the high ground and the Geth were caught in the open. "Odd, it wasn't doing that before." Ashley said as she approached the beacon. It was then that everything went terribly wrong, and she felt a pulse as she was being pulled towards the beacon itself.

"Shit, no! This isn't happening!" Ashley gritted as she tried to fight against it before being lifted into the air. She felt like her head was on fire as strange images flashed through her mind until eventually everything went dark.

* * *

Hiirel followed Anya as they made it up the last ladder into engineering and headed down the gangway that lead to the primary drive control system. She stopped and gulped hard when she saw a body on the ground. "By Sajuuk." She partially gasped. She had read about the results of a hyperspace flare but never seen the results of it.

Hiirel put a hand on her shoulder as a way to comfort her. "It never gets easier, you never get used to this sight." The body in question was practically a skeleton with leathery skin stretched over the body as a direct result of the radiation that flooded the room when the port reactor blew out and overloaded the hyperspace core. This was one of the many dangers working as an engineer on a starship, there were countless horrors the crew would suffer were the hyperspace core to become unbalanced.

"Yes sir." Anya said, somewhat weaker than before as they headed up to the control system. She began running her hands over the console, and text began scrolling across the bottom of the display. "Okay, the port reactor is toast, I'm isolating it out of the systems but it looks like the containment shield is still intact and the starboard reactor is still operational. All other key systems seem to be in working order. Shall I begin startup procedures?" She said, looking back at the captain.

"Slowly. I want you to bring the passive scanners and shipwide back online. Then patch me into the bridge." Hiirel said, as he felt the thrum of the reactor powering up. The feeling was good, his ship coming back to life after being on the brink of death.

"Raiiden, do you copy?" Hiirel said over his communicator as he got a nod from Anya.

The response on the other side was surrounded by the chatter of gunfire. "Sir, we have Vaygr warriors trying to take the bridge! We've repelled two waves already, but they are making another push. If you have a plan, you better act quickly."

"Passive sensors are coming online, what is the status of that destroyer." Hiirel asked and the pause made him uneasy. "Raiiden LiirHra, do you copy?"

"Hiirel, you are not going to believe this. The destroyer has taken position near us to claim us as a prize but has failed to turn his fairings away." Was the response.

Hiirel felt a smile creep across his face, the gods of war were surely with him today as the commander of the enemy destroyer had left himself open to a kill shot, confident that the _Watchful Guardian_ was out of the fight. Vaygr destroyers had a critical weakness in that due to the design limitations they had reactor fairings that were necessary for a safe operation of the reactor. These fairings could be closed for short time during combat but had to be opened for normal operations.

"Lieutenant. Do we still have fish in the bow tubes?" Hiirel asked, looking back at Anya.

"Yes sir, what are your orders?" Anya asked, her hands were hovering over the console as the captain approached her.

"Route power to fire control and the attack LADAR as well as bow fire control on my signal." Hiirel said and returned his attention to his communicator. "Are you ready, Raiiden?"

"On your command." Came the reply.

"Lieutenant S'jet, get me power to the weapons. Commander LiirHra, bag me a destroyer." Hiirel said as the commands were carried out.

The flurry of activity on the crippled Hiigaran torpedo frigate would have come to a complete shock to the bridge crew of the Vaygr destroyer. Before they knew what was happening, the vessel launched a pair of anti-capital ship torpedoes at the Vaygr warship. The Vaygr had no chance as they had positioned themselves ahead and slightly above the frigate. The torpedoes flew straight and true, smashing though the cooling fins of the enemy ship's reactor and then detonated inside the fusion chambers, the two and a half megaton warheads detonated, and combined with the nuclear fuel of the destroyer and transformed the heart of the ship into a miniature supernova and obliterating the vessel in moments. The resulting explosion was enough to force the Vaygr infiltrator frigate that was still sending reinforcements to break off.

"Good work sir, the only other target is that frigate that was attempting to board us. They've broken off and our security teams should have no trouble dealing with the rest." The XO announced. "We're being hailed by the _Lance._ Patching you in."

"Hiirel, you crazy bastard. Should have known you wouldn't accept defeat that easily. The Vaygr have had enough and are withdrawing, you pulled our asses out of the fire on this one." The captain listened as his superior announced victory.

"Just doing my part, sir. When you can, we are going to need support ships as the _Guardian _took heavy damage." Hiirel said, finally taking stock of what had really happened.

"Understood, we're dispatching vessels now." The commander of the task group stated and cut the comms. Hiirel sat down on the steps next to where Anya had also sat down.

"Sir, is it always like this?" Anya asked, her voice full of exhaustion.

Hiirel chuckled at this, no lieutenant. You did good, you represented your kiith very well." Hiirel said as they sat in silence to both celebrate their victory and remember that it came at a heavy cost.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Good morning Tiir, this is Sierra Radio broadcasting from the heart of the homeworld. Our top news stories, the West Rim Coalition is opening further trade agreements with the Daiamid and as proof that the recent successes and concessions made by our government is garnering an even greater level of trust and friendship. In other news, the fleet _Ferin Sha_ has returned from fighting a Vaygr incursion on the borders of the Eastern Fringe and although we took some casualties, there are reports that the enemy suffered even greater losses and once again showing our enemy that our resolve has not waned. In entertainment…"

The broadcast was cut short as a hand reached over from under the covers of the bed and turned off the device, the groan emitting from the covers was indicative of the state of the person underneath it. Anya's head was just pounding, she had agreed to celebrate with the captain and several other officers in response to their victory. Everything was going just fine until one of the officers mentioned that he was Somtaaw and ordered a round of his kiith's mead. In all honesty she did not think that it was possible to consume that much alcohol.

Slowly sitting up, she could see that she was still in her wrinkled uniform as she slowly got out of the bed. Making her way to her bathroom, she opened the cabinet and took a couple of tablets out of a canister and placed them in her mouth as she turned on the water in the sink and gulped some water right from the tap. As she turned off the water and closed the cabinet, whose door was a mirror she looked at her state. Her dark hair was a complete mess and her light blue uniform with red trim was in desperate need of a drycleaner.

Peeling out of her uniform, she turned on the water to the shower and once steam started to build up, she stepped inside of the stall. Initially her muscles reacted to the hot water, but once she was used to it, she began to relax. This felt like paradise, one of the simple things that you missed on the ship. They had misters that allowed them to remain sanitary, but that's all it really was. This was different, real water warming her skin in a near sensual massage that allowed her to relax and begin to feel clean again.

Tilting her head back, Anya allowed the water to run through her hair before she reached over and poured some liquid cleanser into her hand and lathered up her hair, her fingers massaging her scalp as the suds flowed down her body. She stood there a while longer after all the soap hand been washed off her body and then turned off the tap and stepped out of the shower.

Taking a towel from the rack, she dried herself off and donned her bathrobe and brushed out her hair, smiling slightly. It was good to be back in the heart of civilization and to truly feel Hiigaran again, not just to be one in name. Her green eyes seemed to nearly shine in the light, amplified by her hair that was as dark as the void herself, framing her face and resting just beyond her shoulders. Leaving the bathroom, she headed to the kitchen and made herself some Moyop'taark or Midnight Tea. This special drink was made from the Moyop Grishaat or Midnight root, a plant from Kharak that the Hiigarans had taken on their return from exile. This special tea was found to have properties that reacted well to their biology to the point it was almost considered a staple drink in everyday life.

After finishing her tea and breakfast of some fruit and slices of a grain loaf, she returned to her room and changed into civilian attire. It was the warm season, so she elected to wear a long, flowing dress with several light colors of blue, red and green and tied it off with a light belt on her hip, the tails of which were about the same length as the hem that extended halfway down her calves. She put on simple sandals that tied around her ankles and then drew her attention to her hair that she tied back in a simple ribbon, she took her small handbag that had her identification and left her apartment and enjoy what the capital city had to offer.

* * *

Meanwhile, across the city and near the city's shipyards another Hiigaran was waking from the night's drunken revelry. Hiirel woke to the soft breathing beside him and a wicked grin came across his face as his girlfriend was sleeping soundly. She only slept like that when they had a very exhausting night, and if the state of his bedroom was any indication, it was clear that they had gone at it like a pair of Skaals in heat. Getting out of bed, and standing there in all his glory, he slipped out of the room and into the shower to wake himself up.

He was almost through the ritual when the door to the stall opened up and he was looking at the person of his affections. "Trying to start without me, Soban?" The woman said, looking up at him with a wicked smile. He loved everything about this woman, from the dark hair with a near reddish hint to it, to her sea-blue eyes and curves that drove him mad. Her face looked as though it had been crafted by the Great Maker himself, and the way that she spoke to him was like sex.

"I would never think of it. Just wanted to get things warmed up first." Hiirel said, closing her in a warm embrace.

"Does that work on all the women? Or just those not exposed to your charms?" The woman said, looking up at him as their lips closed in a deep kiss. Hiirel knew there was more to her than what she let on, Daliiah Tambuur was a mystery when it came to what she did while he was away. Yet he did not let that bother him, they had a good thing going and he was not about to screw that up with stupid questions.

As the pair stepped out of the shower and dried off, Hiirel heard a chime from the other room. Wrapping the towel around his waist, the large display screen in his room had the icon of the Hiigaran Navy rotating on it, indicating that this was an official call from the military. Pressing the accept button on the console, he was greeted with the image of a uniformed officer and the black and red indicated this was no normal officer.

"Soban Kiith-Sa, to what do I owe the honor of this call?" Hiirel said, his hair still a mess and the stubble still clear on his face.

"Is this a bad time?" The woman stated in a very professional manner.

"No, I was just in the shower." Hiirel responded and noticed the slight grin in the corner of the woman's face and looked behind to see that Daliiah was standing at the door, in clear view of the camera but without a towel.

"Quite. Look, something has come up and we need to see you at fleet HQ." The officer explained.

"Understood Soban Kiith-Sa. What time?" Hiirel asked, silently cursing his luck. He was hoping to enjoy his next three days of leave but it seemed that there were those who had other plans.

"Bottom half of the twelfth hour. Until then, captain." The woman said and cut the signal.

"So, off to play soldier again?" Daliiah had said, sauntering behind Hiirel and placing her arms around his waist in a hug, as her hands traced his abdominals lightly with her fingers and resting her chin on his left shoulder.

"Little modesty in my house, babe." Hiirel said to her, trying to be firm, but feeling her skin press against his back was wearing down his resolve.

"What? You don't like the way I look? Should I go?" She whispered in his ear.

Hiirel let out a groan as he turned around and pulled off his towel and lifted her up and carried her back to the bed. "Forget it," he said as he lowered her onto the mattress.

"What about your meeting?" Daliiah asked with a coy smile her hair splayed out and her appearance had quite the carnal effect on Hiirel.

"They can wait, I'm sure the Sa will understand." Hiirel said as the pair continued where they left off the night before.

* * *

"So, you want to tell me what in the hell happened down there, commander?" Captain David Anderson had summoned Sophia up to the comm rooms for a private debriefing.

Sophia knew this meeting was bound to happen, so much of that mission had gone to hell and went there in an expeditious manner. Jenkins died in the first engagement with the enemy, and it went even worse from there as they found the body of that Spectre Nihlus. They did manage to both save the colony from what would have been a catastrophic detonation and tracked down that beacon. Well, sort of. Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko had taken a deflective hit and a sliver round had entered his left lung, the doctor having had to perform emergency surgery but at least he would make a quick recovery. What happened with the gunnery chief they found on the planet was a little more worrying.

"I assume you mean the beacon?" Sophia began, recalling the events that lead to its loss. "I sent Gunnery Chief Williams to secure the beacon while I treated Lieutenant Alenko's injury. I could hear weapons fire for a short duration, maybe a couple of minutes tops. Shortly thereafter, I heard an explosion and assumed it was a grenade. Once I was sure that the Lieutenant would be okay, I checked on the source and found the destroyed beacon with the chief lying next to it."

"What worries me is if the testimony of this Powell character is reliable. I know this Saren, he's a Spectre and one of the Council's top agents. He went after Eden Prime for the beacon and did so by allying himself with the Geth." Anderson said, getting to what was really bothering him. "He's also a harsh critic of the Alliance and hates humans."

"Sir, what do you want us to do?" Sophia asked, surprised at this information. "We're enroute to the citadel, I…" Anderson began when there was a knocking at the door. "Hatch is open," he said as a soldier entered the room.

"Sir, the chief is awake. The said you wanted to be appraised of the situation ASAP." The young man saluted.

"Thank-you Serviceman. Shepard, maybe the chief can fill in the blanks." Anderson said as they took the very short walk from the captain's quarters to the medical bed where the chief was sitting up and trying to get up, much to the protest of the doctor.

"Honestly doc, besides the headache reminiscent of shore leave, I'm fine." Ashley said, her voice seemed somewhat groggy from whatever she went through.

"Fine? Chief Williams, you were interacting with alien technology that put you out of it for fifteen hours. Until I release you for duty, you're not fine." The doctor said firmly.

"Doctor Chakwas, you should know by now that getting a marine to listen to medicos when they can still physically carry gun is about as useful as a garden hose on a forest fire." Anderson said, standing near the door with Sophia. "Unless you can find an exact reason for the chief not to be at her duties, I don't see why she needs to stay here."

"Captain, I must protest at this. We have no idea what that beacon could have done to the chief's physiology." The doctor said, turning her ire towards the captain. "I can't believe you are advocating that I release someone in her condition."

"Doctor, I'm not saying to just give a clean bill of health, but I don't think we need to detain her in medical. What if I have her check in once a week?" Anderson suggested.

"Wait, are you suggesting that I say on this boat?" Ashley piped up, and it was clear that she was unsure of this.

"Had you transferred to the Normandy as we're a little shorthanded with the loss of Corporal Jenkins." Anderson explained.

"I see, not sure how I feel about sliding into a dead man's post." Ashely admitted, looking down at the floor as she stood up.

"Not a dead man's post, you did a hell of a job. If the captain did not suggest it, I would have." Sophia said, walking up to the chief. "You evaded a hostile enemy and survived to provide us with valuable intel, you're a survivor and that's someone I need."

"Yes ma'am." Ashely said and looked at the group. Sophia motioned to the doctor and Kaiden who was cleared for light duty that they picked up on and left the medical bay.

"Williams, we were wondering if there was anything else that you could tell us about what happened, the doctor mentioned an increase in your REM and strange beta waves in the scans." Sophia said, giving her a reassuring glance and a hand on the shoulder.

Ashley looked up at the woman, "no ma'am. The last thing I remember is getting pulled up by the beacon, a high pitched scream and a pounding headache. Next thing I remember is waking up here, the rest is a blank."

"Damn, I guess it was too much to ask. It was a Prothean beacon, so it's safe to assume that whatever was supposed to happen, did not happen with the chief." Anderson said to the pair. "Well, gear up when you're done here and meet me on the bridge." Anderson said and left the medical bay, leaving the two of them standing there.

"Okay chief, I know a bullshit story when I hear one, so what really happened." Sophia said, leaning against the wall and folding her arms in front of her chest.

"Just as I told the captain, ma'am." Ashley responded, getting a raised eyebrow from Sophia.

"Come on Williams, what you say here won't leave the room, but whatever intel you can offer, we need to stop Saren and whatever his plans are." Sophia said, giving Ashley a reassuring smile.

"Sorry ma'am, I wish I could be more helpful, but that's all I remember. If that is all, I should gear up." Ashley said, giving a salute and leaving medical when Sophia returned the salute.

Sophia stood there alone for a moment and shook her head. "Should have been me." She said to herself before leaving for the bridge.

* * *

"So what's the status of our fleets?" A man sitting behind a large desk asked, his many insignias and medals indicated how important he was among his people.

"Admiral, the 23rd fleet has reported a renewed incursion by the Frerrn Aggregate to take the disputed worlds, the 38th patrol group reports that Hiigaran patrol ships are also increasing in number and our other scattered assets are reporting continued unrest among the populace and various elements of the Imperial Navy.

The man who was sitting at the desk was Admiral Perris Terricon and commander of the Taiidan Elite Guard. At one time this was the most powerful, best trained, and best equipped fighting force in the entire galaxy, but as they say, time marched against them. The victory of the Hiigarans in 9510 brought the entire system crashing down and forced the Taiidan to gradually give up all territories in the inner rim and were forced to the east and north. Here, a much weakened Taiidan Empire still fought amongst themselves, and against the newly formed Taiidan Republic. Yet the republic did not last, as Makaan and the Vaygr made certain of it, now leaving what was historic territory behind the lines of this foe.

"Very good. Rules of engagement remain. Avoid the Frerrni and the exiles, but any Taiidani factions that test us, they have authority to push back." Perris said as the man saluted and left the office. When the door closed, he secured the lock and returned to his desk. Opening one of the desk drawers, he took a device out and secured it to his communicator and activated the connection. Within moments, a holographic projector of three people behind their desks faced him, their uniforms very different.

"Admiral Terricon, have you considered our offer?" The youngest in the group asked the weathered and greying Taiidani admiral.

"I have, and while I don't much care for working with the exiles. Sorry, Hiigarans. Old habits die hard." The older man chuckled and used the moment to gauge their responses, he continued. "As I was saying, I do not much care for your kind, but my people have suffered long enough under the yoke of the Vaygr. So how do you suppose we do this?"

"Admiral, our people feel the same way about us working with the people responsible for the burning of Kharak. Have you heard of Zerda Grecha?" The officer to the right asked, folding his hands on the desk.

"You mean the Vaygr pirate queen?" Terricon asked, his demeanor soured somewhat.

The female in the group looked at the admiral, "yes, that's her. Say what you will about her actions, she is motivated primarily by her self-interests and is the Vaygr warlord most willing to negotiate with us. We have come to an agreement that if she can wrest the territory from Arkan Miris then we will provide her with materials and supplies as payment for her work. As part of the agreement, she will give all credit to the Elite Guard by flying your colors during the campaign. Once you reclaim your home system and move your assets there, you will defend your own borders and sign over the disputed territories to the Frerrn Aggregate and the rest of the northern territories to us until the inhabitants can declare who they wish to join."

Terricon knew exactly what this was, as by the way that it was worded. With the Taiidan standing between the Hiigarans and the Vaygr, they would be acting as a buffer state between the two sides and be essentially fighting the Vaygr on the behest of the Hiigaran Navy. Although, given his options at the moment, this was the best chance they had at reclaiming a home for his people and ensuring they did not become a footnote in history.

"I accept these conditions with the following terms. Upon being established as a legitimate government on Taiidan, we want unfettered access of our merchant ships to the Progenitor Gate Network and all connected markets. We also want a defense treaty that will ensure that our home is never over-run again." He knew that these terms were a hard pill for the exiles to swallow, but they needed their economy running almost immediately if they were to survive. The second issue was practicality as everyone knew that only the Hiigarans would be able to counter this threat. He was a pragmatist first, and behind closed doors even the most loyal imperialist knew that there was no navy in this current state foolish enough to face the Hiigarans, so if he draped his people in the crest of the Angel Moon, he may be seen as a traitor but his people's future would be secure.

"I think we can accept these terms. We will send someone your way when we are ready to begin." The holographic projectors terminated and Terricon was once again alone. He hoped that history would vindicate him as he just allied the strongest Taiidan faction with the enemy that brought them to their knees and were essentially going to be used as cannon fodder so that the exiles could live in safety. He had to remind himself that it was the lesser of two evils, but that did not mean it sat well with him.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Sophia could not believe what she was hearing; the ambassador was speaking to the council like they were subordinates, even making demands. While she agreed that the Council had to step up to the plate and fulfill their obligations, she also knew that every politician needed to have their egos stroked from time to time and always had to be treated as the superior. Part of her was wondering if Udina was actually deliberately trying to provoke the Council with his words. In the end, it did not matter as the Council made it clear that they would not intervene in what they saw as a human problem. As much as she hated to admit it, the Council had a point about sending a fleet into the Traverse. So many wars had been started by misunderstandings and the massing of a Council fleet could be seen as a prelude to war.

"Captain Anderson, I see you brought your whole crew with you?" Udina said, approaching the group after the meeting with the Council had concluded.

"Just the ground team from Eden Prime, in case you had any questions." Anderson said in the most diplomatic way possible, while Sophia had a few choice words she would like to share with the ambassador.

"Then what's the point of the mission report?" Udina asked, clearly exasperated as he took a deep breath and looked over at Sophia. "We better hope the investigation turns something up to support our accusations or this will be all the evidence they need to keep you out of the Spectres. " Udina said to Sophia before turning back to Anderson. "Captain, I need to go over a few things with you before the hearing. Shepard, you and your people can meet us in the tower, I'll make sure you have the required clearance." With that being said, Udina left the office with Anderson.

"That's why I hate politicians." Ashley said aloud and Sophia looked back at her.

"Is that the only reason chief? Because I can tell you that I could write a book on why I hate politicians, especially snakes in the grass like Udina." Sophia said, closing her eyes for a second to clear her head and looked back at Kaiden and Ashley. "Well, let's head to this tower, I'm sure keeping the council waiting is something that won't put us in their good books."

The trio left the office and after talking with a few of the ambassadors of the other races and getting a rather rich story about someone called the consort as well as an interesting conversation with Executor Pallin, they hailed a skycar and made their way to the Citadel Tower. It was quiet for a few minutes in the car, before Kaiden took the time to break the silence.

"Commander, I am wondering why when we were told to meet the ambassador in the tower, that we chose to stick around and talk to random people on the Citadel?" The young officer asked who was sitting in the backseat with Ashley while Sophia drove.

"Very simple, lieutenant," Sophia said as her hands moved deftly over the haptic interface causing the car to glide effortlessly through rush hour traffic. "I needed to see where people stood in regards to our species. Sure I could have just read it from the database, but I need to know not just the facts but how people feel about it. We also need to try and build a rapport with the associate races in any way we can. They may not hold the power, but many small voices can speak just as loudly as one. You heard both Calyn and Korlak talk about humanity and our position in the galaxy. We need to show them that while we move quickly, that does not make us a threat. To that end, we're going to try and help out that diplomat after we are finished with this business with Saren." Sophia said, bringing the car to a gentle stop in the stall.

"You really think that it will be that simple, ma'am?" Ashley asked as the hatch to the skycar opened.

"What do you mean Williams?" Sophia said as she stepped out of the car and gestured for the other two to follow suit.

"I'm just saying that it may not be that cut and dried. This Saren guy seems to have gone through all sorts of trouble to attack Eden Prime, so maybe there's a little more to this." Ashley admitted as she looked around, Sophia taking note that the marine was not looking her in the eye.

"All right chief, things get complicated and I owe you a drink." Sophia said as they walked up to the tower, the guards letting them through as they entered the elevator that took them up while they admired the view.

After a short trip, they left the elevator and Sophia noticed that there was a Turian standing with the Executor. "Saren's hiding something, I need more time. Stall them."

Sophia was surprised at overhearing this, the Executor issuing the expected words. "Stall the Council? Don't be ridiculous; your investigation is over, Garrus." With that Pallin left the area as the one called Garrus approached. "Commander Shepard? Garrus Vakarian, I was in charge of the investigation into Saren."

"You must really want to bring him down." Sophia said, as she watched the turian respond.

"I don't like him, something about him rubs me the wrong way, but he's a Spectre. Everything he touches is classified; I couldn't find any hard evidence. This one is up to you, I hope the Council will see reason, good luck Shepard."

Shepard? Did he just call her Shepard? It was kind of odd that he just referred to her by her last name. Most people either called her Sophia, or Commander Shepard. She had a few shorthand names, but those were for a select few. Last time someone called her by her last name was her varsity coach. "Thanks...Vakarian." Sophie replied and made her way up the steps to the Council chambers.

"Oh, Commander Sophia Shepard. How kind of you to decide to grace us with your presence, when I say for you to meet me in the Council Chambers, that is not at your leisure." Udina said, Sophia taking note that Captain Anderson was nowhere to be seen.

"Commander Shepard, care to explain to this council why you thought it necessary to accuse one of the most decorated officers of Special Tactics and Reconnaissance with high treason?" The person who spoke was that of Tevos, the Asari councillor.

"An eyewitness saw one turian kill another in cold blood. Nihlus said the name Saren." Udina offered, his voice laced with anger as it was deeper than normal.

"Spectre Arterius, the ambassador has a point. You were directly named." The person who asked the question was Valern, the Salarian councillor who looked up at the holographic projection of Saren.

"Hardly, I reviewed the report and the personal effects of this Powell. According to his omni-tool, he was reading through an old human fantasy book called The Lord of the Rings. The antagonist was a being Sauron. Given the terrifying situation he was in, it is very likely that he latched on to what he felt familiar. That is beside the point. Given the mental state of the eyewitness and the circumstances of his testimony, we know that Mr. Powell's account is unreliable at best. I regret the devastation of the human colony but as I can prove, I was nowhere near Alliance space at the time." Saren said in a calm unflappable voice as he opened his omni-tool and transmitted the information.

"We will need to verify this, but I see no reason to doubt our Spectre. However, I do see reason to doubt the human that failed to deliver the Prothean beacon we were promised and now seems to be shifting the blame on an innocent person." These words came from Sparatus, the turian councillor.

"Councillor, you shouldn't be so hard on the commander. I understand why she falsely accused me, I mean look at the circumstances. She serves on the Normandy with David Anderson, and after what happened on the Camala mission all those years ago and who he blames for that, well I can understand why she was quick to accuse me. Humans are independent achievers and Shepard's achievements made it very hard for her to accept failure. Humanity has not found its place yet, they are not ready for this Council or the Spectres." Saren said calmly, his voice resonating with calm and clarity and no hint of malice.

"He has no right to say that! It's not his decision!" Udina yelled at Saren, most likely due to his comment about Spectre admission. This had gone so wrong, and Sophia knew that they were just looking worse and worse. Udina was sounding like a raving madman and making it look like humanity was trying to frame an innocent man. Saren was good, she had to give him that, and he even made it sound as if he empathized with her situation and with humanity, even if there was an air of arrogance to it.

"Commander Shepard's admittance into the Spectres is not the point of this meeting." Tevos spoke up, trying to calm the clearly irate human ambassador.

"My apologies councillor, but you must see by now that this meeting is without purpose. The human ambassador has brought charges against me with no hard evidence. If you decide not to continue this line of questioning, I want to assure this council that I do not want any charges of defamation brought against the commander. I'll chalk it up to youthful brashness." Saren added as he looked over at Sophia, his expression gave her some chills and then noticed that he was looking back at Ashley. "I do have one concern."

"What is it Spectre?" Sparatus asked, their judgement was nearly a foregone conclusion.

"The report states that a one Gunnery Chief Williams interfaced with the beacon before its destruction. Should we not have her under observation as we have no idea what the effects could be, especially with her on this Prothean station?"

"If you think you can cart my gunny off as some sort of lab rat, you've got another thing coming." Sophia's demeanor changed as with her posture, Saren having hit a vulnerable spot.

"That's enough commander. By the words and actions of both yourself and your ambassador as well as a blatant lack of evidence, we are denying your petition to have Saren Arterius disbarred from the Spectres. Consider yourself fortunate that we don't press charges for defamation of character." Tevos said, the answer being absolute, before she looked up to Saren.

"Spectre Arterius, you are free to return to you duties with the Council's deepest apology." Tevos said before once again returning to Sophia.

"Saren brought up another issue of contention. Until we deem otherwise, you colleague will not be permitted to be on the station without escort. We will be assigning a C-Sec officer to escort her, report to the academy. This meeting is adjourned." With the verdict concluded, the councillors left for their chambers and left a frustrated ambassador, an angry Sophia and a very confused Ashley.

"First time I met a turian with more silver in his tongue than me." Udina said as he turned to leave. "Shepard, we got ambushed on that one, so I am leaving you to find some information to expose Saren, something smooth words cannot hide. We have a couple of possible leads, a C-Sec contact named Harkin who can most likely be found in Chora's Den or look up a volus banker named Barla Von."

"Udina, unless you didn't realize, my armor says N7 and not PI." Sophia said, folding her arms across her chest. "Can you tell me why in the hell you think I could investigate anything?"

"Anderson said you think fast on your feet, and no matter what the perceptions are, you are still being evaluated as a Spectre. Pull this off and you candidacy might just be upgraded from 'snowball's chance in hell'. Get to it Shepard, I expect results. But first, get down to the C-Sec academy and sort out this business with your marine." Udina stated what he expected and that it wasn't a request.

"Well chief, aren't you popular." Sophia said as they left.

"Great, another of the universe's jokes at my expense." Ashley grumbled as she followed her CO.

* * *

"Well, this is my stop." Hiirel said, looking over at his lover in the back seat of the transport that had taken them the short journey to the fleet command headquarters building. Leaning over one more time, he gave her a deep kiss and they almost got started again. "Hold that thought." He said, finding it very hard to pull himself away from this woman, but he had a job to do, so he pulled at the lever of the door that opened with a hiss and very regretfully slid out of the back of the vehicle.

"Well don't keep them waiting, impress the hell out of them, Soban." Daliiah returned as she closed the door behind him and he listened to the steady thrum of the engine fade into the steady stream of traffic over his head, gliding past effortlessly as they went about their business in the midday heat. Hiirel gave a slight tug at his black and red officer's jacket, and while he wore these colors with pride, colors of his choosing, they were not comfortable in Hiigaran summers. Fortunately, he spent most of his time in climate controlled ships where such concerns never came up.

Turning around, he looked up at the massive structure, the white and blue domed structure served as the heart of one of the most powerful fleets in the galaxy. Plans and stratagems were constantly being formulate behind closed doors that would ensure that this planet, the jewel of the Hiigaran Dominion stayed Hiigaran. Walking up the steps, he could not help but admire the view. All around him were grand spires and domes that were the heart of the city, with new buildings constantly under construction. They say that image is everything and the image that his people had portrayed to the galaxy was of constantly increasing strength and prosperity.

Arriving at the top of the steps, he entered the massive double doors and began walking down the corridor of the building, his polished shoes echoing on the white marble while he passed branch after branch before reaching his destination. He looked at the name placarded over the doorway and thought that he had heard the Sa incorrectly.

"It's no mistake. Come on." The female voice that caused him to slightly jump, revealed it to be that belonging to the woman who he spoke to earlier. She was a little shorter than himself, but taller than Daliiah and had dark hair that was staring to show the telltale signs of grey and her facial features gave away signs of aging.

"Ma'am, it's just this is entirely unsuspected." Hiirel said, standing to attention.

"Please, captain. You have proven yourself a very capable officer, I'm surprised it took these idiots this long to figure it out." The woman said, showing her credentials to the security team by the door before entering. The name above the door, which gave Hiirel pause was two simple words, but what happened behind those doors was of galactic importance. Those two words were Fleet Intelligence.

Entering through the door and passing through the security cordon, they walked past many side offices and rooms before reaching another security checkpoint and a heavy door with the words Strategic Command. Entering the room, he was in awe at the sight before him. There were office desks with computers arranged in a semicircular configuration that went around a large screen. On the screen was a galactic map and he could clearly see the divisions. The Hiigaran Dominion was coded in blue that covered most of the inner rim, the Western Coalition was coded in green, the Vaygr in red, the Taiidan in yellow and the contested territories were hashed in white and blue.

"Welcome to the true source of strength of the fleet, captain. Now, if you'll follow me." The woman gestured as he was lead behind the back rows and up some stairs the lead to a door. When the door opened, he could see many more high ranking officers looking out the viewing glass while others were reading through information on tablets. In the presence of such individuals, Hiirel stood quickly to attention while putting his right hand over his heart and bowed slightly in respect.

"Ah, captain Soban. I apologize for such an abrupt summons, but we wanted to get you read into the program as soon as possible." One of the men in uniform said, it being clear by both the overcoat colors and his insignia that he was a rear admiral from Kiith Manaan.

"Understood sir, what exactly am I here for?" Hiirel said as he was guided to a table in the back of the room. The table was in fact a holographic projection and he could see that they were blueprints for a ship but the design was unlike anything he had seen before.

"We've decided that you would be the ideal candidate to take out the lead ship in a new class that we are calling the strike cruiser." Another officer stated, her technical expertise made it clear that she was S'jet. "Our new responsibilities are requiring us to be faster and more mobile than we had to be in the past, your recent actions have proven that you are able to think fast on your feet. This new vessel is unlike anything you have commanded in the past."

"I can see that, the biggest ship I have commanded has been a frigate." Hiirel said as he began studying the diagram. He considered himself a rather well-versed officer in military technology but he was having a hard time absorbing what he was seeing.

"This is the culmination of decades of research and development. The Balcora-class is the fastest capital ship in the fleet both in sublight drives and the medium-jump core, her point defense systems, attack drones, phased ion cannon and torpedoes are the most advanced in our arsenal." The woman said, explaining the systems briefly.

"Did you say medium-jump?" Hiirel asked, this having caught his attention first.

The woman responded with a smile as she touched the panel and an expanded view of engineering came up. "We finally found a way around our previous capacity problems and these new cores can achieve nearly one thousand four hundred light years per jump."

"That's…." Hiirel began, finding this hard to believe.

"Nearly half the jump distance of the far-jumper. Coupled with Progenitor ship architecture, this vessel has no peers in the known galaxy. While it will not stand up to a battlecruiser, it is designed for speed and can handle any ship that can actually catch her, she is designed to fight with a frigate line or provide deep space reconnaissance, hence the advanced cloaking system. Not only does it last longer, but the head diffusers will ensure that even proximity sensors probes would be hard pressed to get a solid fix." The officer conluded.

Hiirel looked down at the design, to say that he was impressed was an understatement. Not only was she powerful, but she was also beautiful. The vessel had similar lines to that of the battlecruiser with a low and flat profile. It differed in that just forward of engineering the bow tapered off gradually to a more slender and pointed nose, most likely to provide cooling for the new ion weapon. Looking up at the group gathered here, clearly waiting for him to respond, he asked the question. "When are you building this ship?"

"Two months ago we laid her hull down in the Tanis Shipyards. The Khar-Valesk will be ready for trials within days." The senior member of the group announced.

"I see, and given that you are not announcing this in public, there is a mission you had in mind." Hiirel said while he surveyed their reactions and noticed his Sa speak up.

"Of course, you will be hunting Taiidani. Group Captain." The woman said with a smile, informally announcing his promotion.

"The….Taiidan?" Hiirel was surprised at this. _The Taiidan? Why fight the relics of the past?_

"I think I can answer that." Hiirel turned to face an officer in Manaan colors. "We have intel that a large contingent of Imperialist ships have gone missing and we need you to find out where they have gone." The officer explained.

"With all due respect, sir. Why do we care what happens to Imperial ships? I thought they don't even recognize our claim to Hiigara." Hiirel responded to this order with an almost revulsion.

"I assume you keep up with the news? Have you heard of Admiral Terricon?" The officer stated plainly.

"Taiidani officer, considered one of the larger factions but no one can verify this as they operate deep within the northern territory." Hiirel said, remembering what he had heard. Tabloids also rumored that he assisted the Frerrn Aggregate in the past against his fellow imperials.

"That is correct, let's just say that he plays a part in our long-term strategy for the galaxy. He has given us intel that ships belonging to the 7th Frontier Fleet have gone missing." The officer responded while he touched a few commands on the table that made the blueprints of the warship disappear and a portrait of a Taiidan male appear. "We believe, no we are certain that this man commands the fleet. His name is Rodam Elson." This announcement came as a shock. "That's right, grandson to the Elson that lead the rebellion, he blames us for the destruction of the Taiidan Republic at the hands of the Vaygr. Problem is that he has gone missing, along with the bulk of his fleet."

"How many ships are we talking about, sir?" Hiirel said, almost not wanting to hear the answer.

"Five carrier battlegroups and two heavy cruiser task forces." Was the answer, an answer that almost made Hiirel stumble.

"May I ask how in the bowels of Sajuuk that intel screwed up so badly as to lose track of over three hundred ships?" Hiirel knew right away that this was not a simple mission anymore.

"Watch your tone, captain. Besides, we have hardly any assets in that territory and we still wouldn't have known if Admiral Terricon had not been so forthcoming. You need to find the location of this fleet and relay it to Fleet Intelligance as soon as possible. That is all." Hiirel responded to this order with a salute as he was lead out of the room by the Sa that had escorted him thus far.

"Sajuuk, that was worth it. Just try not to provoke them too much, HIGHCOM does not like being treated like junior academy students." The woman said as he was lead down the corridor back out the way they had come. "Everyone is trying to play this as a minor police action, but there is far more to it than that. Rear Admiral Elson was the premier expert among his people on Progenitor technology, do not underestimate him."

"Understood Soban Kiith-Sa. Anything else?" Hiirel asked, seeing her smile.

"There is one more thing. I've delayed your departure for two days, enjoy your time with her while you can. This is going to be a long cruise." The woman said as she faced them and they clasped forearms and then departed.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Commander, what can I do for you?" The turian behind the desk with the brown carapace and white facepaint asked, looking up at Sophia with his hands clasped in front of him. Sophia had not spent enough time around turians to read their expressions, but had a rough idea of his opinion of her and humans in general.

"Executor." Sophia was able to state calmly as she gritted her teeth for the rest of the 'request'. "I have a certain individual under my command who the Council has deemed requires a C-Sec escort detail."

"I see, and is this individual a criminal?" The Executor asked, clearly trying to push Sophia's buttons.

Sophia closed her eyes and clenched her fist, emanating a slight amount of biotic energy as she took a deep breath. The blue hue quickly dissipated as she opened her eyes, a little smile working its way across her lips. "No, she's not a criminal, but if you say that directly to her you will probably be charging her with assaulting an officer of the peace. Well, that is after your assistants take you to the hospital, she's not as diplomatic as I am."

"Well, I was just processing the paperwork as you entered into my office. It turns out I have an officer whose case just wrapped up, I believe you met him on your way to your meeting with the Council. His name is Garrus Vakarian." The Executor said as he typed in a few things in his computer before pushing a call button on the office communicator and waited a few moments and then entered something else into the device.

"How can I help you, Executor?" The female voice on the other end asked.

"Where's officer Vakarian?" The Executor asked, his tone appearing slightly annoyed.

"Unsure, he said he had to finalize some information and should be back later on in the day. Should I message him on his Omni-tool?" The ever so helpful female voice asked.

"Don't bother, he never answers that thing anyways." The Executor said, ending the call and shaking his head before he looked up at Sophia.

"Commander Shepard, there is a human that I would be certain knows of your escort's whereabouts. His name is Harkin and he's most likely at an establishment called Chora's Den. I'll give you some time to track him down before I make sure your friend has her escort." The Executor said, allowing Sophia to leave where he saw Ashley slouched on the ground and popping something into her mouth while Kaiden was standing beside her with his arm around her shoulders.

"Okay chief, take slow, deep breaths. It should kick in relatively quickly." Kaiden said to her in that deep voice.

"Lieutenant, care to fill me in?" Sophia said, coming up to the pair and to see that it looked like Ashley had been crying.

"Migraine ma'am, I gave her some of my own medication that should reign it in pretty quickly. " Kaiden explained.

Sophia knew this would probably complicate things if this was a shadow of things yet to come; no one knew exactly what that beacon had done to Ashley and if it impaired with her duties, well she pitied the poor medico that would have to tell her that she couldn't be a marine anymore. She didn't have to wait long as the woman who looked a little weak suddenly had that tough demeanor return and looked up at Sophia.

"I'm good, ma'am. So who is my babysitter?" Ashley said, looking at her commander.

"Remember Garrus, the C-Sec officer we ran into?" Sophia asked the marine.

"A turian, ma'am?" Ashley asked with a very much surprised expression. "You've got to be kidding me."

"No joke, we're not sure where he ran off to but we're stopping by Chora's Den as there is a good chance that a guy named Harkin knows where he might be." Sophia explained as she gestured the two of them to follow.

The three of them left C-Sec and made their way down to the lower levels of the wards, Ashley breaking up the silence. "So….we're going to a titty bar?"

The statement clearly flustered the lieutenant as Sophia smiled at this, "what make you think that, chief?"

"Really commander? Any place that refers to itself as a den is not going to have ballroom dancing." Ashley deadpanned as Sophia stopped in her tracks, they had arrived outside the bar only to be standing with a pair of turians and their assault rifles leveled at the trio.

"That's her," the one said to the other. "Grab her and I'll handle these two." He said to his partner who was standing behind Ashley and had grabbed her by her biceps.

"Listen, I don't know who you are but if you let my friend go, we can work something out." Sophia said, staring the leader in the eye.

"You're in no position to make pleas." The turian scoffed.

"This is not a plea, I'm just trying to spare you from writing your own death warrants." Sophia's expression changed to a defiant glare.

"Don't waste your breath, human. You've lost." The turian responded as he leveled his weapon at Sophia only to hear a strange, muffled crack and looked over just in time to see his partner clutching his nose. The human female they were trying to capture reached back with her free hand and grabbed the sidearm from his partner's holster and shot him in the foot causing him to howl in pain and release the human who dove behind cover. At the same time, while he was distracted, he was thrown back himself as the two others followed the lead of the first human who now had her rifle out.

"Williams, I didn't know you were part Krogan!" Kaiden called over to Ashley who was leveling her rifle at the injured turian.

"Bite me, sir." Ashley responded, staring down at the turian and her rifle at the ready. "I wouldn't move if I were you." But the turian did move, as he pulled something from his side and held it to his chest. "Shit! Grenade!" Ashley yelled as she sprinted from cover and rolled around the corner to shield herself from the blast.

"You okay Williams?" Alenko asked, with genuine concern.

"Alenko, none of us will be fine if tweedle dumb sticks a bullet in our collective asses. Sabotage, now!" Sophia barked, as she charged at the remaining turian while blasting him with her shotgun. The turian returned fire for only a moment before his weapon stopped working, followed by his shields failing and a shotgun blast perforating his chest and falling to the ground in a sickening gurgling sound.

"I say it's safe to assume that those were Saren's men." Alenko said, getting out of cover and helping Ashley up.

"I agree, but why where they trying to capture her?" Sophia asked the lieutenant.

"I'd like to know why this bird pulled an Iwo Jima instead of letting us take him alive." Ashley said as she stood up, looking down at the smoking body of the Turian that had killed himself with a grenade.

"I don't think we'll ever know, stay frosty people, no doubt Saren has other greeting parties waiting for us." Sophia motioned for Ashley and Kaiden to follow her into the establishment. The group paused for a second as they got an eyeful of the dancers and the patrons.

"A million light years from where humanity started we walk into a bar with men drooling over half naked women shaking their asses on a stage. I don't know if I find that funny or sad." Ashley piped up, shaking her head at the sight.

"Actually Williams, our galaxy's radius is only about one hundred twenty thousand light years across, and the Citadel is closer to about seventy five thousand light years from Earth." Sophia responded as they walked around the circular bar, Sophia having found who she was looking for.

"Leave it to a spacer to correct me." Ashley said in response to this.

"What's the matter Williams, you don't think they're here for the food?" Kaiden asked, his attention focused more on the stage than the gunnery chief.

"Hey lieutenant, put your tongue back in your mouth before you trip on it." Ashley snapped back as they reached the table they were looking for.

"Are you Harkin, I was told you could help me find someone." Sophia said in a casual tone, her face wrinkling slightly as the man smiled, his eyes wandering all over her figure.

"Hey there sweet stuff, why don't you and pretty and pink over there get out of that uncomfortable armor and meet me in one of the private rooms and I'll tell you all you want to know, only if I get to hear you make a few sounds yourself." Harkin said, only to get a scowl from Sophia.

"Unless you want to be finishing that drink through a straw, I'd watch that mouth of yours." Sophia said, staring the man down. "I was told you know where I might find Garrus Vakarian."

"Ah shit, you must be Anderson's lackey, still trying to bring down Saren. Ever since he screwed up that mission and was kicked out of the Spectres, he's had his sights set on that turian, claims he was set up." Harkin said, returning to his drink. "Garrus is sniffing around Dr. Michelle's clinic on the wards, might catch him if you hurry."

"Well Harkin, I won't say it was a pleasure." Sophia nodded and turned to leave, getting a wolf whistle from the man.

"Damn princess, you look just as good walking away." Harkin said.

Sophia turned around not at the comment but at the sound of something crashing to the ground to see that Harkin was on his back with his hands over his face and Ashley standing over him before turning back to the commander.

"You bitch! You broke my nose!" Harkin gritted as he was lying there.

"Williams, one of these days you are going to run into a problem that you can't settle with your fists." Sophia said, trying not to smile at the marine as they left the bar.

"Not a problem ma'am, I'm also a decent kick-boxer." Ashley said as they made their way down the corridors and up a few flights of stairs towards the medical clinic.

"Right, but from now on I would rather you not start punching everyone in sight that rubs you the wrong way or you might be spending the rest of our time on the station aboard the ship. We clear?" Sophia said, pushing the button for the door control to the clinic.

"Crystal ma'am." Ashley said as the door opened to the sounds and pleas of the doctor. "But I think these assholes need killing first."

* * *

Anya wandered the streets of the city, she was in more of an urban center, and this particular quarter had something of a local market. While there were plenty of shops and stores closer to the apartment where she lived, this area had more of a traditional feel. The streets were lined with various stalls and people selling everything from local produce, to fabric and everything in between. She had a basket with the loop in her left forearm and her bag over her right shoulder. She was going from stall to stall, occasionally picking up something or another and paying the vendor before continuing on. As much as she loved her job in the navy, she had always felt a connection to the old Kushan desert culture and its traditional ways. It gave her some sort of connection to the past and served to remind herself where she came from.

"Hello, Anya. Back from your cruise?" An older woman who was selling various fine fabrics various garments said, sitting at her stall.

"Yes, we just arrived yesterday. I'm preparing a malk-haalsha for my return." Anya replied to the woman with a smile.

"I have something for you." The woman said as she stood up, shaking slightly from the strain as she made her way to the back before returning with a blue garment in her arms.

"Oh Utaa, it's beautiful." Anya gasped at the sight of the dress, the fabric was clearly very costly and the care in making it was clear in every part of its design, a design that was of traditional Kushan origin. "How much is it?"

"It's a gift." The woman replied, "The Great Maker wanted this to be given to you."

"I can't accept such an extravagant gift, it's too much." Anya felt her breath taken away.

"Nonsense. I made it specifically for you, you're not going to deny an old woman the right to dote on young daughters of Hiigara." The woman replied with a smile.

"If you insist." Anya said as the woman folded the garment neatly in packing paper. After leaving the stall, she continued her walk in the sector for the rest of the morning before returning to her apartment where she sorted out her purchases and prepared the evening meal. As she was preparing the meal, she heard a chime on her communications console and went over and opened the channel to see the captain on the other end in uniform.

"Sir, this is unexpected." Anya said, standing there in her casual dress from the morning.

"Well I hope you're ready for the unexpected. I have my new orders, I will be commanding a new cruiser out of Tanis." Hiirel said with pride and a smile.

"Congratulations, sir. Any idea who my new CO will be?" Anya asked, tilting her head slightly at his odd demeanor.

"You're coming too, I was calling to tell you about your new posting. You'll need to head to the spacedock tomorrow for transport to the shipyards." Hiirel reached forward as if he was getting ready to end the call. "One more thing, you need to head over to personnel and pick up your silver insignias, I expect my executive officer to be in uniform when I arrive." Hiirel said with a smile as he watched her reaction.

"Sir…I…" Anya was having a hard time processing all of this, she just started her career on the frigates, to suddenly be propelled as executive officer of a cruiser was unimaginable.

"Don't worry, you'll do fine, I have the utmost confidence in your ability." Hiirel said, ending the call.

Anya stood in the room completely dumbfounded, and not able to move as she felt a little weak in the knees. _Commander Anya S'jet._ She had to admit that she liked the sound of it and it was what she wanted, but she wasn't sure if she would be up to it. Her only hope was that she wouldn't screw this up.

* * *

"What were you thinking, you could have hit the hostage!" Ashley heard Sophia bark out at the turian, she couldn't help but notice it was one hell of a good shot.

"There was no time, I just reacted." Garrus responded and looked to Dr. Michelle who had been sprayed by some of the blood from the criminal.

"I'm fine, it's just a little blood. Thankfully, not mine." The doctor said with a thick French accent.

"Look, I know these men threatened you, but we can protect you. What were they after?" Sophia asked the doctor as they stood there.

"They work for Fist, they wanted to shut me up about a patient. She was a quarian, she had been shot but didn't tell me who had done it, she was scared and probably on the run. She wanted to trade information for a safe place to hide, so I put her in contact with Fist, he's an agent for the Shadow Broker." The doctor explained while she was taking antiseptic wipes and cleaning the blood off her face.

"Was an agent for the Shadow Broker, now he works for Saren and the Shadow Broker isn't too happy about it." Garrus announced getting a surprised expression from the doctor.

"Fist betrayed the Shadow Broker? That's stupid, even for him. Saren must have made him quite the offer." The doctor replied, her voice carrying the surprise of her expression.

"Wait, who is this Shadow Broker, more importantly what kind of information did this quarian have?" Sophia spoke up, and Ashley was curios as well who this Shadow Broker was.

"The Shadow Broker is someone you don't want to cross, that quarian must have information linking Saren to the geth." Garrus said and looked over at the doctor.

"She did! She said the information had something to do with the geth." The doctor replied.

"There's no way the Council can ignore this. This is your show Shepard, but I want to assist you. Saren is a traitor to the Council and a disgrace to my people!" Garrus proclaimed just as Sophia held her hands up in front of herself.

"Relax Garrus, we were actually looking for you. Turns out you have to escort the chief here until the Council says otherwise. You're on the mission." Sophia said as she gestured for the group to leave.

"Yes ma'am." Garrus responded and looked to the group. "You know we're not the only ones after Fist, the Shadow Broker hired a krogan bounty hunter named Wrex. He's at the C-Sec academy, we can catch him if we hurry."

"A krogan at C-Sec?" Sophia asked, clearly finding that odd.

"Wasn't really his choice, he was caught making threats so we brought him in for a little chat." Garrus explained.

"Well, you never know when you might need some heavy firepower. Let's do this." Sophia said as the group left the medical bay.

Ashely followed at the rear of the group, she didn't want Shepard to see that her hand was trembling slightly and that the headache was already coming back. The lights from the wards were making things worse and she wanted nothing more than return to the ship and curl up in a little ball somewhere away from the noise and the lights.

"Witnesses saw you making threats in Fist's bar. Stay away from him." An officer said to a scarred krogan in red armor. In spite of the pain she was enduring, Ashley had to watch the exchange. Either the officer was incredibly stupid or had incredibly big brass balls.

"I don't take orders from you." The kogan growled in return.

"This is your only warning, Wrex." The officer did not let up.

"You should warn Fist, I will kill him." The krogan known as Wrex responded.

"You want me to arrest you?" The officer asked, clearly stupidity was the order of the day, but fortune seemed to smile upon him based on how Wrex responded to the challenge.

"I want you to try." Wrex chuckled as he turned to meet Sophia who was watching the exchange with the others close by. "Shepard, Commander Shepard. I've heard a lot about you."

"I'm going after Fist, figured you might want to come along." Sophia said, and stood in front of the krogan.

"My people have a saying, 'seek the enemy of your enemy and you will find a friend.' We're both warriors so out of respect I'll give you fair warning, I'm going to kill Fist." Wrex responded with a smile.

"Welcome aboard Wrex, Fist gets whatever is coming to him." Sophia said and gestured for the group to follow and looked back at Ashley. "Lieutenant, take the chief back to the ship. Wrex and Garrus will come with me on this one."

"But ma'am, I…" Ashley began but was interrupted by Sophia.

"No buts, that's an order." Sophia said as she left with the officer and the merc.

* * *

"What the hell are you doing?" Sophia yelled as she stared defiantly back at Wrex, and while she knew he wanted to kill Fist, she was hoping she would have been able to talk him out of it.

"I don't leave jobs unfinished." Wrex sort of shrugged.

"We'll talk about this later, first we need to rescue that quarian." Sophia said as they left the back office where the bar owner laid dead and only had to encounter a few more bodyguards before they made their way to the alleyway where the quarian was meeting the assassin. Still a ways off, she could see some sort of action between a turian and a quarian and a few moments later a pair of salarians approached.

"Shit." Sophia said as she sprinted to cover as a grenade went off and the quarian also made good use of cover. It was a pitched battle, but with her and Wrex's biotics that combined with the quarian and Garrus' tech attacks, the enemy fell without too much difficulty.

"Fist set me up, I knew I couldn't trust him!" The quarian female responded, stating the obvious.

"Don't worry, Karma is a heartless bitch, and he got his." Sophia heard Wrex rumble and while she wasn't too pleased with Wrex, he was right about that.

"Are you all right?" Sophia asked, remembering the class of basic cross species first aid she was taught and the difficulties this species had with wounds.

"I know how to take care of myself, not that I don't appreciate the help. Who are you?" The quarian asked.

"My name is Sophia Shepard, I'm looking for evidence that Saren is a traitor." Shepard said, reassuring the young female.

"Then maybe I can repay you for saving my life, but not here." The quarian explained.

"Commander, your embassy should be safe and I'm sure Udina will want to see this." Garrus offered. So off they were again, back to the embassy to deal with a man she would rather not.

"A firefight in the wards, and all-out assault on Chora's Den, do you know how many…" Udina began but then paused. "A quarian, what are you up to, Shepard?"

"Making your day ambassador. This quarian has evidence linking Saren to the geth." Sophia explained, making Udina change his tone.

"I see, well go ahead miss…" Udina said, clearly trying to bring his diplomatic skills to bear.

"My name is Tali. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. I was on my pilgrimage when I began to hear reports of geth outside of the Viel. I was curious so I tracked a group to an uncharted world where I got one alone and disabled it before extracting its memory core. While their defenses cause them to wipe their cores to safeguard their secrets, I was able to preserve a file from the audio banks." Tali said as she activated her Omni-tool and played the recording.

"Eden Prime was a major victory, the beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit." The voice of Saren was unmistakable, they had him.

"That's Saren's voice! This proves he is a traitor!" Anderson exclaimed in triumph.

"Wait, there's more. Saren wasn't working alone." Tali said and replayed the message.

"Eden Prim was a major victory, the beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit." The voice of Saren was followed by that of a woman. "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." A third voice was heard as well. "And when you are finished, we will strike down the Sajuuk-Khar."

"Reapers? What are they?" Udina asked.

"According to the geth, they were a hyper-advanced machine race that existed fifty thousand years ago that hunted the Protheans to complete extinction and then vanished." Tali explained.

"Sound a little far-fetched." Udina said, somewhat unconvinced.

"Whether they are real or not, this proves Saren was behind the attack on Eden Prime but I want to know who or what the third voice was talking about." Sophia interjected.

"I have no sort of reference to…" Tali began, her posture changed somewhat like she picked something up she hadn't noticed before. "I thought this was a corrupted feed, but the name is consistent with the partial logs, they refer to something called 'the Taiidan.' I have no reference to what that or this 'Sajuuk-Khar' could be."

"Well, I suggest we keep the part about this Sajuuk-Khar to ourselves before we learn some more, we at least have enough to take Saren down." Sophia offered and the ambassador nodded in agreement.

"Miss Zorah, please come with us, we need to present this to the Council right away. Shepard, you and your team can meet us there. Wait, where are your human subordiantes?" Udina asked, something it was clear he had overlooked.

"They had other duties, they are aboard the Normandy." Shepard explained to the ambassador.

"Very well, we'll meet you in the chambers." Udina replied and once again left them there.

"A krogan in the Council Chambers. This should be fun." Wrex said with a laugh.

"Let's go, Udina is not known for his patience." Sophia said and they headed for that meeting, she was certain that Saren would not even show his face on the projector as he probably already knew his men failed but would have liked to the look on his face when they presented the evidence.

"That's not good enough! You know he's hiding somewhere in the Traverse, send your fleet in!" Sophia was standing there and once again the ambassador was making demands of the Council, she wondered how the man even got his job as his statecraft was sorely lacking.

"A fleet cannot track down one man." Valern responded, making it clear they would not commit such resources to a 'human problem'.

"A Citadel Fleet could secure the region, keep the geth from attacking any more of our colonies." Udina said, still adamant.

"Or it could trigger a war with the Terminus, we won't get dragged into a confrontation over a few dozen human colonies." Sparatus stated in a somewhat confrontational tone himself. Sophia knew she should expect no love lost for the humans by a turian but like the ambassador she was at the end of her rope.

"Every time we ask for help, this council ignores us." Sophia finally spoke up.

"Shepard is right, I'm sick of this council and its anti-human bull…" Udina did not get to finish based on the gasps of the crowds.

"There may be a way to resolve this situation that does not require fleets or armies." Tevos interjected as she looked at her two counterparts.

"No. It's too soon, humanity is not ready for the responsibilities that come with being a Spectre." Sparatus said, as he was adamant about not permitting this.

"You don't have to send in your fleet and the ambassador gets his human Spectre. Everyone is happy." Sophia offered.

While she had made the suggestion, she was not prepared for the response. "Commander Shepard step forward…."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Brothers and sisters, family, kiith and children of Hiigara. You were selected for this posting because you are some of the best in your field, the best soldiers, the best scientists, the best officers and have proven your worth. We are about to be given the privilege of crewing the finest ship constructed by the Dominion, a new ship in every regard. As your captain, I will do the best to lead you and I trust you will do your utmost to ensure that the Khar Valesk goes down in history among the greatest vessels to serve our people. Honor over all."

Anya listened to the greeting, standing on the podium just back and to the right of the captain but her attention was not on the ranks of the seventy men and women that she would be serving with, but at the vessel that was behind her in full view of the massive viewports. She just wanted to turn around and gaze at the vessel with wonder. In the briefing, she was given the schematics and technical overview and knew this vessel represented a revolutionary breakthrough in ship design. She was not based on anything that came before but unique in every right.

As the crew was let at ease, Anya did just that and returned her gaze to the vessel. No one would blame her, ships had become the very cornerstone of Hiigaran society given that is was by a starship that her people returned and it was starships that preserved their people when Makaan attacked. She couldn't help but admire the way in which these new vessels were designed, they were far less utilitarian as their predecessors and much more a masterpiece of art.

The Khar Valesk, a world that came from the old Kushan language literally meant 'chosen peace' but in reality it was more along the lines of, 'I choose peace'. It heralded back to the intervention of Ifriit Naabal during the Heresy Wars in which he stood before his brothers and sisters and he told them that while arms had to be raised against the other kiith who were blind to reason, in the end this will be a choice of peace. This vessel was meant as that new philosophy, they were going to be sent out to stop conflicts before they arose, hence the reason for having a pair of highly skilled diplomats on board well versed in galactic politics and language.

Turning her attention back to the ship, she looked more to its design than its purpose and understood more than most what this ship was capable of. This capability was concealed beneath the strongest armor designed by her people, taking what design concepts they could replicate from the mighty warship Sajuuk itself. While they were in no way able to replicate the powerful Progenitor armor, they did gain invaluable insights that allowed them to reduce hull thickness without sacrificing protection and allowing the ship to move even faster. The vessel had very beautiful lines, she retained the slender bow concept of the destroyer and the profile of the battlecruiser. The slender tapered nose flared out elegantly into the wider aft section and the beautiful vessel was arrayed in the blue and white colors of Hiigara, the crest of the angel moon emblazoned on the sides of the aft hull as well as on the upper surface near the bow.

"Hard to take your eyes off of, isn't she?" Anya was slightly startled to hear the captain who was now standing beside her.

"Yes sir, she is beautiful." Anya remarked, still wondering why she was here. "Sir, may I ask a question?"

"You want to know why I picked you." Hiirel responded, and Anya nodded as it was a question that plagued her. "I've seen many fine officers and others not cut out for command. You know what separates a good officer from a poor one?"

"Devotion to…" Anya began before Hiirel interrupted her.

"Forget the academy motto. A good officer is able to think on their feet, and able to see solutions outside of the box. My previous XO is good at his job but he never ventures outside of that box, my eventual replacement needs to see things that was not taught by the academy. The galaxy is changing, and we need to be able to change right along with it." Hiirel said, clasping his hands behind his back. "The way that you operated our sensors to pick up what others would not have showed me that you are good at the tasks you are assigned, but the fact that you came to me with the solution to escape our demise was a clear demonstration that you don't think like an academy student. With the right experience, you could be thinking like a captain."

"I don't know if that is in my future, sir." Anya deflected, she just wanted to enjoy the moment and not be pressed into the burden of command.

"Well, it's about that time, shall we board?" Hiirel questioned, Anya knowing it wasn't really a question.

"I thought you would never ask, sir." Anya said following the captain to the docking collar.

* * *

This was so much to take in, Sophia had just been made a Spectre and then given the command of the most advanced ship in the Systems Alliance. While she was raised on starships, she was trained as a ground side Vanguard and not a fleet officer. She knew what needed to be done, and she addressed the crew in the best way possible to motivate them for the mission but she still felt unqualified to lead them. She could command a squad just fine, order her to take a hill or advance on an objective was simple, this was something else and she felt like she was in over her head.

"So Pressly, what do you think of our orders?" Shepard said, striking up conversation with her XO.

"Well, if anyone has to take over from Captain Anderson, I'm glad it's you. Not sure how I feel about having so many non-humans on the ship." Pressly said bluntly.

"They're on our side Pressly, but I need you to be comfortable with this. You have issues with non-humans?" Sophia inquired, leaning slightly against an unused console.

"It's not that, commander. Saren attacked one of our colonies, we should be the ones handling this and we don't need their help." Pressly said, clearly being honest with his opinion.

"Pressly, some would say asking for help is a sign of weakness but nothing could be further from the truth. We need as many friends as we can, this is not something we can handle on our own." Sophia said, her expression was one of ease as she was trying to convince the man of her opinion.

"Maybe you're right commander, I guess I'm just stuck in the old ways. Don't worry, it won't get in the way of the mission." Pressly saluted and returned to his duties while Sophia went down to medical to check on Ashley.

Entering the med bay, she was surprised to find that Ashley was nowhere to be seen. Spotting the doctor sitting at her small desk, Sophia approached and leaned against the wall. "So what's the status on chief Williams?"

"I gave her some medication to deal with the headaches, but I'm still unsure of what to do with her. Her continued difficulties in regards to what has happened has forced me to pull her off the duty roster until we can determine what effects it's having on her." Doctor Chakwas explained and looked up from her work. "I haven't broken the news to her yet."

"Don't worry doc, I'll tell her," Sophia assured the doctor as she left and headed down to the lower level of the ship. Ashley was standing in front of the weapons bench, where it looked like she was servicing a weapon and having some difficulty with it.

"Damn it." Sophia heard Ashley curse as she dropped the tool and the Lancer assault rifle back on the table.

"Problem, chief?" Sophia inquired, standing beside her by the bench.

"Yeah, something is wrong with my hands, they're not steady. I don't think I can fight like this." Ashley said, resting her hands and slightly drooping her head in shame.

"Sorry, I was about to tell you the same thing." Sophia replied in as supportive a tone as she could muster.

"You going to drop me off somewhere, I'm not really any use to you like this." Ashley muttered as she put away the rifle that she had attempted to service.

"Nonsense chief, we'll get you fixed up and you'll be out there killing synthetics before you know it. Besides, given that Saren tried to bag you earlier I am running on the assumption that the Normandy is the safest place right now." Sophia leaned against the workbench and looked over at Ashley.

"Yes ma'am." Ashley said, her furrowed brow made it clear that she was still not one hundred percent.

"Williams, I want you to hit the pods, get some sleep. Don't worry, we'll get this sorted out." Sophia said with a comforting smile and rested her hand on her shoulder.

"Maybe you're right." Ashley said, giving Sophia a curt nod.

Sophia left the cargo hold and made her short jaunt down to engineering where after a brief talk with Chief Engineer Adams and his vote of confidence in regards to their new quarian engineer, she went over to see how Tali was settling in.

"This ship is amazing Shepard! I had no idea Alliance vessels were so advanced, I beginning to understand why you humans have been so successful." Tali spoke in a higher pitched tone and her speech was really quick.

"Slow down Tali!" Sophia exclaimed with a chuckle, she reminded her of her cousin when she visited them on Terra Nova. "This ship is a cooperative venture with the turians, so it is just as much their ship as ours and many of the design concepts are from Palaven. But I will agree with you, the ship is something else, I just wish it wasn't so quiet."

"You noticed it too?" Tali inquired, clearly the two of them had picked up on something similar.

"I grew up on one Alliance boat or another, occasionally a few space stations. Most of those vessels were ships of the line, the drive systems are tough but not elegant. The steady thrum of the slightly off-center drive core was the pulse of the ship, and not hearing it meant something had gone really wrong, really fast." Sophia admitted, all the while looking up at the massive core and allowing her features to be bathed in the odd bluish light.

"I can understand that, this might take some getting used to." Tali admitted, rubbing her right arm.

"Are you okay?" Sophia said, looking over at her.

"Yeah, just a little irritation from my gunshot wound. The ship's doctor said I should be okay, it's just a little discomfort." Tali replied, but Sophia could tell she was still nervous.

"Here, I have something for you." Sophia said, opening her omni-tool and uploading a file to Tali's omni-tool.

"What is it commander?" Tali asked, her surprised tone, matched with a slight tilt of her head.

"Engine recordings from the Jakarta. I play it to help me sleep, you might find it useful as well." Sophia offered.

"Really? Thank-you so much commander." Tali said, returning to her console.

"Tali, the program is actually a bit of a bribe as well." Sophia said, rubbing the back of her neck. "I understand you will want to continue studying the systems here but I need your help with some tech issues."

"What sort of tech issues?" Tali replied, turning around, her curiosity was obviously piqued.

"You know about the destroyed beacon? Well, we took the remains of it and put the pieces in the small lab behind the medical bay. We're picking up a Prothean expert to try and glean anything we can out of the debris, but I also figured that someone with you tech skills would be a tremendous asset. So, can you help us out?" Sophia finished, noticing that Tali was bouncing on her toes, it must be a good sign.

"Are you serious commander? You're allowing me access to the most advanced ship in Citadel space and now you are giving me access to tech that belonged to the relay builders? I would be honored." Tali replied, her voice full of excitement.

"I appreciate it Tali." Sophia said with a smile. "We won't need you right away, but as soon as we meet up with Dr. T'soni, feel free to examine the beacon with her." Sophia said as she left engineering and reached Joker with the ship-wide wireless comms.

"Moreau, set a course for the Artemius Tau Cluster." Sophia said, hoping the Prothean expert would be willing to work with a human and even more, hoping that she wasn't in league with Saren.

* * *

The bridge of the vessel was impressive, much like the rest of the ship. No matter how much he was told about Progenitor superstructure design concepts used, the most advanced fire control and sensors suites in S'jet R&D, the most powerful weapons and the most significant leap in Hiigaran hyperspace drives it was another thing to see with your own eyes.

"Sir, engineering reports that the drives are online and hyperspace core is charged with all parameters well within safety margins." His new XO stated, giving him a smart salute in her immaculate uniform. Were he younger, not the captain of the ship and already be in a relationship he would probably have interests in her.

"Very well, Commander S'jet." Hiirel said, sitting in his command chair, he typed in some command codes on the armrest that caused a large display screen to appear with several numbers scrolled along the bottom. "Potential orders from HIGHCOM. Lieutenant Paktu, begin message authentication."

"Yes sir." The young lieutenant nodded as he worked at the comm station to Hiirel's right and slightly further forward. "Comm signal checks, secondary and tertiary encryption is valid. Message was encoded by TIIRSA and shows no sign of tampering. Lieutenant Eram Paktu, my authentication code is fourth from the top, Tarno-Gaf-Var-Amaala-Reis."

"Code authenticates, captain." Anya announced and continued. "My authentication code, Commander Anya S'jet, third from the bottom. Vargaf-Tiir-Karta-Sodiir-Laan." Anya announced.

"Code verifies, message is authentic, captain." The lieutenant announced.

"Very well." Hiirel said, reading the message as the instructions along with the appropriate navigation data came up. "Helmsman, plot a speed course for the Median Wastelands. We will be making rendezvous with the Imperial heavy cruiser Retribution." Hiirel announced, getting surprised looks from the crew. "Relax, either we will be testing the diplomatic skill of our specialists, or we will be testing the weapons systems of our ship."

"Course plotted, hyperspace engaging." The helmsman announced.

"Ship Sa Manaan, you have the bridge." Hiirel said, as he stood up and looked over to Anya and motioned to the door.

"Understood, sir." The officer in question stated as the captain and the executive officer vacated the bridge.

The two of them walked down the narrow corridors of the ship, and while it was less crowded than previous Hiigaran vessels, the concept had not changed. Ships housed very powerful weapons, and the only way to survive in battle was to ensure that your ship had as much armor as possible. As a result, the engineers did their best to limit open spaces that resulted in somewhat cramped quarters for most of the crew. There were exceptions to this, near the centre of the ship there was a large common area and dining area as a vessel that was designed to patrol for months on end had to give the crew some breathing space.

The two of them took a turn by a heavy door, each of them putting their hand on a scanner, the door guarded by a pair of Hiigaran marines. After a few moments, a positive chime verified their authorization and the two entered the room, the door closing behind them. Hiirel took note of the room, there was a large, rectangular metal table in the center of the room as well as twelve chairs going around it, secured to the floor and allowed movement by short rails. On the far wall was a display that would allow for a proper debriefing or any other meeting that had to be secure.

"Okay commander, what is said here is not to leave this room." Hiirel said as he typed a few things on a display surface on the desk in front of the chair that was at the head of the table. Doing so revealed an image of a blue whirlpool in space that were surrounded by small objects.

"Sir, is that what I think it is?" Anya asked, staring at the screen.

"It is, you are looking at a Bentusi Galactic Slipgate." Hiirel replied, understanding her skepticism. Most of the slipgates had been destroyed during the Beast War and the few that had survived had gone inactive when the Harborship Bentus was destroyed. Yet this one here was clearly still active and the slipgate stable.

"Is there a reason why we haven't sent a fleet to secure it, sir?" Anya asked, her voice laced with concern.

"HIGHCOM is concerned that they will not be able to commit the forces needed to secure it, given how preoccupied the fleet is at the moment and how deep it is in loyalist space. We wouldn't have known about this, had we not got the information from the Imperials themselves. We're going to link up the main body of this Taiidani faction, head to the slipgate and find out how much of a risk this slipgate is to the dominion." Hiirel explained.

"Sir, is there anything else?" Anya asked, her tone said it all. She knew he was hiding something.

"A large contingent of loyalist forces are believed to have used this gate and is feared they are building up forces far removed from the galaxy. If this is the case, we need to put a stop to it." Hiirel said, scrolling to the images of a large imperialist fleet. "Admiral Perris Terricon had been monitoring this fleet, and until a few weeks ago they had been a thorn in his side. Now it appears that most of that fleet is now missing, I don't think I need to explain to you how dangerous a fleet like this could be if allowed to move unchecked." Hiirel said, closing the data file.

"So we're going to bar the door?" Anya said, averting her eyes from the screen back to the captain.

"If that is needed, first we are going to find them and then see what they are up to." Hiirel said, taking a seat. "Let's go over some of the details of the mission. I want you in the loop in case something goes wrong."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Commander, I need you on the bridge ASAP." Sophia stopped checking her gear down in the hangar bay, she had told Garrus and Wrex to kit up for the mission down on Therum. They were less than twenty minutes to drop but the wavering sound of their normally steady pilot told her this was something serious. Making her way through the levels of the ship, she walked down the corridor in her armor and took note that much of the crewmen were busy, much busier than normal.

"Talk to me Joker." Sophia said, coming to stand just behind the pilot's seat.

"Someone beat us to the punch, there are unknown vessels holding position in high orbit around the planet, big vessels." The pilot said, gesturing to the scanner returns.

"How big are we talking, I need numbers flight lieutenant?" Sophia's voice carried concern and her brow wrinkled as she stared at the screen.

"We are counting twenty warships just under the size of an Alliance cruiser, half of them are sporting four huge turrets on the front as well as a pair of large ports. The other has this strange four barbed array out of the front, my guess is a mass accelerator weapon. Then there is this other one, my guess is we're talking a carrier based on the large opening at the front, in fact I would bet a year's wages on it." Joker said, running through the data they were picking up.

"Anything else?" Sophia asked, she was running numbers through her head and trying to figure where these ships came from, the composite image wasn't matching anything she had seen before.

"Yeah a couple of things, first is their tonnage. Our estimates put these vessels of at least four to five times the weight of a comparable Alliance or Citadel ship." Joker continued to work the control interface. "The other is their element zero readings. There are none."

Sophia almost staggered at that last point. "Say again?"

"No element zero cores, so either they all had to eject their cores, they came here on sublight engines or…." Joker began.

"Or they developed alternate FTL." The voice belonged to Kaiden Alenko who arrived at the bridge and taken his seat at one of the consoles.

"Okay, listen up. This changes nothing, we don't know who these guys are but we are not getting sidetracked from our mission. Joker, bring us in to the drop zone and watch for hostile engagement." Sophia ordered as she evaluated her options. She knew full well that the IES system masked her ship based on known technology and as far as she knew, her enemy was completely unknown. "We continue with the original profile, but plan for a hot Mako drop."

"Aye-aye ma'am." Joker said and got back to work before Sophia returned to the hangar bay.

"So are we still on?" Garrus said, checking the sights on his sniper rifle while Wrex was doing a similar activity with his assault rifle.

"The objectives are the same but the mission parameters have changed. We have unknown vessels blockading the planet and ground force status is unknown. We are going to be planning a hot insertion. Garrus, get the Mako in position and get ready to drop." Sophia said as she headed over to her locker. The first thing she had done before they left the Citadel was pick up better weapons for the crew. She admired her new Scimitar shotgun and noticed that Garrus was putting his Volkov to good use as was Wrex with his Thunder. All in all they were much better equipped than when they had taken out Fist.

Sophia felt the ship rock violently and Joker came on the comms. "Hold on people, this is going to get dicey!"

"You heard the man, get into the Mako!" Sophia ordered, feeling the momentum dampers straining to maintain proper control while the Normandy no doubt evaded hostile fire. She clambered aboard the rear hatch behind Wrex, and closed in behind her, the krogan already taking position in the turret while Garrus moved back to the power control station, leaving the driver's seat to her.

"Hold on people, this is going to be a fast one." Joker announced over the comms.

Sophia watched as the hatch to the hangar door opened and realized that instead of approaching at a nice three degree approach path, they were closer to forty-five degrees. Within moments they were down on the surface of Therum, the vehicle barely taking the stresses.

"Hey commander, you're not going to believe this but I'm picking up quantum waveform fluctuations." Garrus spoke up, going over the Mako's scanners.

"Why wouldn't I believe that, Garrus?" Sophia looked back at the turian with a questioning glance.

"Oh right. Well, this should be theoretical and I've only heard of tiny waveform events being created in a salarian lab, not the numbers I'm reading. It seems to be coming from an underground complex about one thousand eight hundred meters, bearing three zero zero." Garrus announced as he plotted a course in the nav system.

The trio headed off towards their destination, and while it was for most part a smooth ride, they did have some near upsets causing Sophia to curse the designers of this vehicle. What ever happened to the good old eighty ton tracked main battle tank? This thing was like someone mated a Mars Rover with a Russian T-72, not that most would get the old 20th century reference.

"Gunner, target Armature, two o'clock. Range, three hundred meters." Garrus said, working expertly on the targeting system.

"Got it." Wrex rumbled as the gun fired a round off, the autoloader kicking in as another round clicked in the breech that caused Sophia to sigh.

"Something the matter, Shepard?" Garrus said as he continued to work the targeting system while Sophia was peeling around more cover.

"This just doesn't feel that real, the gun I mean…" Her thoughts were interrupted as they felt a mighty bang of something bouncing off their hull and almost rolling the Mako were it not for Sophia's corrective steering.

"That real enough for you Shepard? Kinetic barriers are down ninety percent." Garrus announced as he worked frantically at the station and tried to locate the source. "Wrex! Four o'clock and seven hundred meters. Target…unknown."

"Got 'em." Wrex announced as the gun fired. "What in the name of Aralakh?"

Sophia felt the ground rumble near them and watched through her viewfinder as the Mako was peppered with a shower of rock and dirt. "Thought you had 'em, Wrex?" Sophia gritted as she desperately looked for cover.

"I did, the round bounced of the enemy. It has no kinetic barrier." Wrex said, targeting the gun again.

"Hold off, I have an idea." Sophia said as she opened up the power lever all the way and the Mako began accelerating, she turned it towards the target while zigging back and forth and doing her best to make sure the enemy…tank did not get a bead on her. Finally, she was close enough and cut wide around it. "Now Wrex!" Sophia ordered and sure enough the round punched into the enemy vehicle, blowing a huge hole in the hull and taking it out of action.

Stopping the Mako once they verified they were in the clear, the trio got out and headed towards the enemy vehicle. What they saw surprised Sophia as surely as it must have surprised Wrex and Garrus. The vehicle in question was a tracked vehicle with a large turret, all the while with a low profile.

"You don't see that every day." Garrus commented on the vehicle and also the occupants. "Since when do mercs use armor?"

"Yeah, and since when has armored plate been able to withstand mass accelerator fire." Wrex added.

"What do you mean, mercs?" Sophia asked, having spent more time analyzing the equipment. She wasn't sure what this thing was made of, but it was sure stronger than steel.

"Look, they're humans." He pointed out to one of the bodies inside, using his omni-light to illuminate the inside.

"Sort of." Sophia commented as she looked at the body. The man in question was of a much larger build than most and she could tell that he must be just under seven feet tall, his features were also slightly off. She then took notice of the placarded writing around the interior and the strange script. "Garrus, take a few image captures." Sophia said, stepping away from the hole and looking outside where Wrex was, seemingly uninterested.

"The turian is wrong about one thing." Wrex concluded as he gestured to the symbol on the outside. "These are no mercs."

Sophia looked at what he was referring to. The symbol was a ring with some sort of barbed image crossing the horizontal plane. "Well, we know for certain now that the unnamed player in orbit has boots on the ground, so stay frosty."

* * *

"Coming up on exit co-ordinates." The helmsman announced as Hiirel had returned to his command chair, the nine hundred light year jump had taken just over an hour and they were at the rendezvous point. "Exiting hyperspace, we are in tolerable pre-jump alignment."

"Hmmm…" Hiirel spoke under his breath and opened a comm signal to engineering. "Not bad people, but we can do better. I want task leaders to assign drills to the drive control team, we should be threading the needle with this new drive."

"Yes sir, you can count on us." The young voice on the other side replied.

"They'll get it." He said to himself as he looked up at the sensors manager and picked up the Taiidan fleet that initially showed up red but flicked to blue when their subspace transponder was verified. "Commander S'jet, care to do the honors?"

"Taiidan flagship _Retribution_, this is _Khar Valesk_. We have arrived at the agreed upon location and await instructions." Anya said, Hiirel could tell that she was a little nervous.

"Understood _Khar Valesk_, we are opening up the formation for you. Pease inform your captain that in the future I would like to speak to him directly, and that his ship will be providing fire control for this mission." The voice on the other side announced.

"How do you know that I'm not the captain?" Anya continued, clearly perturbed at his presumptuous accusation.

"No disrespect, Commander S'jet but we have not survived among our brothers that have been trying to kill us without learning effective intel gathering. The executive officer of the _Khar Valesk_ is Anya S'jet and the captain is Hiirel Soban. I have background files and behavior analysis on yourselves as well as the bulk of your command crew if you like."

"That won't be necessary, admiral. We had no intention of offending you, I was just teaching my XO the ropes." Hiirel spoke up, "as I understand it, we have no idea what to expect at the jump gate?"

"Our recon scouts were forced to pull back when the enemy began sending out recon sweeps and probe screens. The last pass she made before being forced to return to the task force was that the enemy has a single carrier along with a full complement of frigates and strike craft. For heavies they possess two upgraded destroyers and one missile destroyer." The man on the other end explained, displaying their last known location in relative position to the slipgate.

"All right, when we are in position we will make preparations to jump." Hiirel looked down at the map, it was strange that he would be taking orders from a Taiidan admiral and could tell that his crew was just as uncomfortable with the prospect, but he had is orders and if the threat was as real as he suspected, he would carry out his orders. As his ship moved into position, he could see why this Taiidan was willing to side with his people, the ships looked aged and some of them were possibly even relics from the homeworld war itself. This was the ragged edge and these people didn't have much left, which meant that the majority of the heavy action would be seen to by his ship and untested crew.

"Initiating hyperspace jump." The admiral aboard the heavy cruiser announced and in a moment they were once again propelled through space, albeit on a much shorter journey. Exiting back to normal space, the crew was fast at work and began assigning targeting assignments to elements in this fleet with strike orders. The new fire control tower was proving its worth as the system rapidly was able to identify, classify and assign targets based on what ship excelled at what task. The advanced sensors array allowed them to see the enemy and the fleet to move into position much faster than expected.

The first ships to enter into the fray were the assault frigates, their bulky design and strong engines allowed them to surge forward and their strong frontal armor was easily soaking in the damage as they began exchanging volleys with their own mass drivers and plasma bombs. This was followed closely by the ion cannon frigates, their blue beams began cutting into the enemy frigates, boiling always armor plate and exposing the softer sections below.

Hiirel had to say that he was impressed at their performance, while they had assigned targeting data and relayed tactical information to these Imperials, they were managing quite well. The fighters and corvettes began to move in and harass the frigates while the bombers swooped in at opportune moments to deliver their killing blows. It was then that he realized something that they may have overlooked, and it was already starting to show.

"Admiral, the frigates have pulled too far ahead and the capital ships are not keeping up. They get drawn in range of the enemy destroyers before your flagship can offer support, I'm afraid you are going to take heavy losses." Hiirel said, opening comms with Terricon.

"Understood captain, I've never asked this from an Exlie….Hiigaran. I need you to back up my frigates, they're already committed. I'll try and give you some support with our corvettes." The channel cut out and Hiirel looked at his crew. He knew full well this was over if the frigates got decimated and they would probably never get a chance like this again.

"Engineering, I want full military burn. All point defense stations, begin opening up on whatever you can reliably hit and someone get those fish off their racks and into the enemy line. We need to break these bastards up, force them into smaller groups for our Imperialist allies." Hiirel almost laughed at the last part and figured his grandparents would be turning in their graves for the last statement.

The _Khar Valesk_ surged forward, the vessels mighty engines allowed it to easily outpace the heavy cruiser _Retribution_ as they closed in on where the two frigate forces were engaging. Ahead of them he could see a trio of assault frigates trying to take down an ion cannon frigate that had already crippled one of its brethren. The ship's starboard battery had been cut to ribbons and was clear that the ship had lost primary control as it had an off-axis roll, the engines flaring occasionally trying to compensate. The _Khar Valesk_ opened up with its belly torpedo tubes, the warhead surging forward and slamming into the frigate as it blew in bulkheads and tore back armor and with the combined firepower of the three assault frigates they finished it off.

Not taking a moment to pause, the cruiser then pulled a sharp turn and brought the ion cannon to bear on a pair of assault frigates that were trying to flank the group. The massive blue lance of energy cut a deep swath into the first one just behind its turrets, and set off its upper plasma bomb storage, blowing apart the top of the ship. At this time, he felt a sickening impact as the ship shuddered and while that was a normal occurrence in a frigate during the heat of battle, the same could not be said for a cruiser. It was the destroyers. He had been so focused on the enemy frigates that he had neglected the destroyers. Fortune had it that is was only one destroyer, wait just one? Where were the other two?

"Sir! Urgent message from Admiral Terricon!" The comm officer said, bringing it on screen.

"Soban, the enemy is targeting the slipgate control node, they are trying to close it from any more exits from this side. Whatever they are doing…" The admiral began and then Hiirel considered the ramifications. Yet he did not see an option.

"Admiral, cover our advance. We are using that gate!" Hiirel said and the orders were sent out. The _Khar Valesk_ surged towards the slipgate, blowing through the remainder of the enemy defenses and while alarms went off about damage he would just have to hope the drones could make repairs on the other side. Soon the cruiser disappeared in the vortex of light, escaping just before an explosion.

* * *

'Get some rest.' Yeah right. Ashley kept on reliving the same images flashing through her mind of synthetics butchering unknown people, as if the dreams she would have had from the hell that was Eden Prime was not enough. To make matters worse, she saw other visions as well and while they were not frightening, they were confusing of strange bipedal aliens she had never seen before. While she did not understand what they were saying, she was beginning to understand a few words. Well one word, Balcora."

Ashely woke with a start, opening her sleeping pod with a hiss and squinted at the light, her ears were ringing and her clothes were drenched with sweat and her hair was matted on her face. She felt like she had not eaten in days as she stepped out of the pod, feeling very weak all the while it felt like she could feel her heartbeat in her head.

In a single moment, Ashley collapsed to the floor in absolute agony and couldn't even stay on her knees. She screamed out as it felt like every nerve ending was on fire while she clutched her fingers through the grate and never before wished that someone would put her out of her misery. She heard footfalls and someone touching her shoulder but speaking a language that she couldn't understand. Just great, she left her translator in her locker and this woman who was trying to talk to her was not an English speaker, in fact it she was sure it was one of those obscure languages as she didn't pick up a single word.

"Get…me….to….the….damn…medbay." Ashley gritted and her tense back muscles felt like she would break her own spine. What felt like an eternity later another couple of people showed up and hastily carried her to the bedbay where she was hastily laid down on one of the beds where the doctor approached her and began speaking the same odd tongue.

Damn, I thought the doctor was a Brit, Ashley thought to herself while the doctor continued to talk and Ashley didn't understand a word she said. "Doc, just put me out!" Ashley managed to cry out. Ashley Williams was no stranger to pain, but she had never felt anything like this in her entire life, there was no reprieve and no dulling, just a sharp piercing pain. Finally, she felt her world go dark and the pain began to fade away.

* * *

"Before I let you in, I want to know who you are and if you are with the code-talking mercs." The Asari on the other side of the blue shimmering barrier said to Sophia, standing there with scrutinizing eyes.

"Commander Shepard ma'am. I was tasked to get you out of here." Sophia explained, the woman still skeptical.

"Why should I believe you?" The woman retorted.

"Look, I was told you are a foremost Prothean expert and we have a beacon we need you to examine. You're Doctor Liara T'Soni, daughter of Matriach Benezia and graduate from the University of Thessia." Sophia stated, hoping to gain the woman's trust.

"That information is available to anyone with an extranet connection." The asari did not seem like she was going to budge.

"Miss T'Soni, we have been shot at by these same mercs for three hours now. What will convince you to open the fie…" Sophia began as a round impacted from behind. "Miss T'Soni, I'd hate to rush you but a bullet in the ass is not the way I planned on proving my intentions!" Sophia said as her shotgun reported at a trio of mercs.

"Hold on, this should help." Liara said as weapons fire from an unknown location gunned down the hostiles and she deactivated the barrier.

Sophia looked back at her in complete and utter surprise, and the asari smiled. "Internal defenses, very simple to activate if you know what to look for."

"Well shouldn't we…" Wrex began as the kinetic barrier closed once they were inside.

"Not yet, I need to finish collecting my research." Liara said, leading them back to a large lift that would take them down several more levels.

"I don't think so, I don't plan on dying down here." Wrex interrupted as he stormed towards Liara.

"Please, this place is more than secure with the barriers and internal defenses. This is no ordinary Prothean ruin, someone else has been here before." Liara said, the change in her pitch was evidence that she was excited.

"So what's so important about someone else researching this site?" Sophia was now very confused as most of the time she heard scientist were the opposite of thrilled when someone else horned in on their turf.

"Since they use technology that I have never heard of nor seen before." Liara said as they reached the level and showed the squad what she was talking about. "You see these?" Liara said, showing the pieces on the table. To Sophia it just looked like pieces of thick colored glass or plastic with burn marks etched into them.

"Looks like it's broken." Sophia observed and didn't understand how someone could get that excited about ruined tech.

"Yes, well, I didn't find it until this console failed. Clearly whatever it was the system could not take and the load and failed. Whatever these people were after, they left evidence of their presence, something no one in my field would ever do." Liara announced but was interrupted as a call came to Sophia from the Normandy.

"Commander, I've just been informed from Doctor Chakwas that you need to hurry up down there, looks like Williams has taken a turn for the worse and said we need to get to the Citadel ASAP." Joker stated, the tension in his voice, "it also looks like the you must have secured Dr. T'Soni."

"Why do you say that?" Sophia asked, dreading the answer.

"That fleet that has been giving us trouble, they've taken up positions to bombard the planet." Joker explained, "Unless you want to be wearing those ruins, I would get out of there fast.

"Okay Joker, we're leaving, meet us at drop zone Charlie." Sophia said and looked at the group. "You heard the man, let's get out of here." Sophia lead the way as they felt the shudder of heavy rounds impacting the base.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Commander, that was too close. Those hostiles almost buried us in those ruins, you may be tough but I don't think even you could take a mass accelerator weapon to the face." Joker said over the PA as the ground team was gathered in the comm room, minus one marine.

"While I can't understand why your pilot would make jokes at a time like this, I am relieved to be out of there." Liara looked at the commander while she sat uneasily in the chair.

"I don't know why these people wanted you dead, but if they work with Saren I think it's better to have you with us."

"Thank-you commander, I will do my best to help you." Liara affirmed.

"Well, first we need to find out why your mother has allied herself with Saren." Sophia said, leaning forward in her seat and resting her elbows on her knees with her hands clasped together. It was something she knew Liara did not want to hear, but better finding out now rather than later.

"Benezia? What has she done?" Liara reeled back slightly at the news.

"As far as we can tell, she and her cohort Saren had attacked Eden Prime to get at a working beacon and used Geth to do so." Sophia said, summing up that very horrible day which brought another thought to the forefront.

"Commander, I have not spoken to Benezia in years and have no idea why she would do such a thing, she has always been an advocate of peace. I'm guessing it has to do with that working beacon, where is it now?" Liara asked, looking ready to leave the room that very moment.

"Hold on doctor, the beacon is now in pieces in our auxiliary lab. It had drawn in my gunnery chief and downloaded something into her mind before the whole thing exploded." Sophia explained, seeing the look of disappointment in her eyes before she seemed to perk up a second later.

"Wait, you said the beacon gave her something? I'm not sure how well you know my people but I can meld my mind with hers and perhaps glean some information out of the event."

"Forget it doctor, there is no way I'm potentially exposing another person to that, our ship's doctor has enough dealing with one patient, let alone two in that condition." Sophia's tone was resolute.

"Commander, I'm sure that if I limit my interaction I can minimize the risk." Liara offered, those blue eyes filled with hope and anticipation.

"Perhaps if it was just a human memory, sure, but we have no idea what would actually happen. So while you are not military, I am ordering you to keep your distance for now. Besides, the chief doesn't strike me as a willing participant to the whole process." Sophia explained, having gone through the gunnery chief's file. "She has had very limited exposure to non-humans and I don't want to force her into something she's not ready for. Besides, she probably would not understand even if we explained it to her."

"What do you mean?" Liara was surprised to hear this.

"She had some sort of episode while we were ground side evacuating you, and it appears that the beacon has been having a strange effect on her brain functions. From what the doctor explained to me, she is experiencing debilitating migraines and as a result has difficulty understanding others." Sophia finished and heard a chime on her omni-tool.

"That would be the ship's doctor, it seems that Ashley is waking up. Wrex and Garrus, both of you can return to your posts, I want Lieutenant Alenko to help Mr. Moreau to sort through that data capture of the hostile ships. Tali, you can return to sorting through that beacon with Liara. Questions?" Sophia looked at the crew gathered, none of them said a word, affirming their duties in the positive as they stood up and filtered out of the room.

"Commander, the report is filed and we can set up a link with the Council if you like." Joker offered.

"Set up the link Joker, tell them it will be brief as I will be heading back to the Citadel very soon." Sophia said as the holographic images of the councillors appeared.

"Commander, I see the mission was a success and you have Doctor T'Soni aboard." The asari Tevos was the first to congratulate her.

"I assume you are taking the necessary security precautions?" Sparatus interrupted, already heaping accusations at her. It then hit her while she forced back a smile.

"Of course, because treating aliens with suspicion and contempt is the best way to forge alliances, took that right out of the Hierarchy playbook."

"Commander Shepard, remember who you are speaking to." Sparatus growled.

"I will councillor, if you endeavor to do the same. This is not my first rodeo, and I think the fact that the Taiidan were trying to take her out of the equation is glaring proof that she is most likely not in league with Saren."

"The….Taiidan?" Valern took this moment to speak up.

"Correct, the hostile patrol group that engaged us over Therum. It's all in the mission report, including the armored units and infantry that we encountered." Sophia responded to the salarian's question.

"We read your reports, this mercenary group while is of some concern still falls under territory that is Alliance jurisdiction." Tevos concluded.

"Wait, what?" Sophia was temporarily silenced at their response.

"From your reports and image captures, they are clearly a human mercenary group using unconventional ship designs to mask their origins." Sparatus dismissed.

"Mercenary group? Since when do mercenary groups fire heavy ordinance the size of skycars?" Sophia asked, folding her arms over her chest. "Since when do merc ships register no element zero masses and when do merc groups possess detection protocols that render the IES system effective to only six thousand meters?"

"Commander Shepard are you insinuating that this is an alien race? An alien race that looks just like your own people?" Valern said with a surprised glance.

"I'm not insinuating anything, but it is safe to assume that this unknown party is called the Taiidan based on that evidence from Miss Zorah. It is also evident that they are using vastly different technology, some of it seems to be very effective. I don't know who they are or what they want, but dismissing them as a merc group outright is not a wise move, councillors." Sophia explained to them. She had put her diplomatic face on and did her best to hold their hands, one of the advantages of virtually growing up in the Alliance. She knew how to play the game and for the most part played it rather well when she needed to.

"Very well commander, we will send out a study group to verify your claims." Tevos was quick to diffuse a situation developing between Shepard and Sparatus. "Good luck with your investigation, we look forward to your next report."

Sophia left the room once the call had ended, she felt responsible for what had happened to Ashley, it should have been her dealing with these problems and her bed ridden and not the soldier who was just doing her job. Ashley made her way into the medical bay where a very concerned Doctor Chakwas was standing near Ashley who was up in her bed, clearly very confused.

"Chief Williams, do you understand me?" The doctor said in a most soothing voice but it was not having the desired effect on the marine.

"Maavir. Ailkaa sha noveem." The chief replied, running her fingers through her hair and then clutching onto the mass.

"Commander, we have good news and bad news. The severe episode she had recently has passed, but now she doesn't seem to be able to understand us. If I had to guess, I would say that the beacon has affected her brain functions in overriding the portion that deals with language comprehension speaking and understanding only what I assume to be the Prothean language." The doctor explained, but Sophia was busy looking at Ashley and the look that she got told a different story.

"Hold on doc, I have an idea." Sophia said, walking over to Ashley's bed. "Soldier, name, rank and service number." Sophia ordered out.

"Sornaal'kav Ashley Madeline Williams. Rek-taam-vaardis-vaardis-saak-toolim." The woman stated.

"You see doc, she understands us just fine. We just can't understand her." Sophia said, looking back at the doctor before returning her attention back to Ashley. "I don't know what you did in a previous life, but it seems karma is obsessed with kicking you in the balls, lately."

"Aikaa moriia." Ashley said as she was staring downward.

"Hey doc, is there any reason she has to stay in this bed?" Sophia asked, seeing that despite the strange language she was speaking, she physically looked better than she had since the whole incident with the beacon.

"Her brain scans are still unexplained, but they have not been manifesting themselves in any strange way, so I see no reason why she couldn't return to shipboard duty." Doctor Chakwas said, signing her off on a partial medical clearance. "I still want her checking in every few hours to check on her progress."

It was clear that Ashley was relieved at this news as she hopped out of bed. She looked at the doctor and opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it and shook her head in frustration before promptly leaving the medical bay.

"As you were, doctor." Sophia said, following the chief.

* * *

"All stations, report in!" Anya heard the captain order while she was wondering what had happened and couldn't believe that he had ordered them through a slipgate without having the faintest idea where they would end up. While she respected the man immensely, she also realized that there was some truth to the accusation of her Kiith in regards to Sobani frigate captains. They were rash, impulsive and didn't even look when the leapt, it was if they did not care about the consequences. The rational part of her mind understood why they had committed to this, they needed to know what the Taiidan were up to, but without knowing where they were going it was a risk she would not have taken.

"All stations report minimal damage sir, the bulk of it being caused by the battle itself and not by our transition. Navigation reports that we're going to have to launch a trio of probes to calculate our position as they can't get a proper fix with current nav data." Anya announced, remembering her job she began getting reports coming in from all stations. While the crew compliment was not large, there was still a myriad of systems and status reports that had to be sent to the bridge, which is where the executive officer came in. It was her job to relay the information to the captain so that he could make an informed decision about where to go from here.

"I see, tell sensors to fire off a sensors ping." Hiirel said to Anya.

"Sir, won't that give away our position to any hostile units in the area?" The captain shot her a look that she had never seen before and swallowed a lump in her throat that felt as big as the angel moon. "Y-yes sir, sending the order now." Anya said as she typed into her holographic console. Within moments, the blue sphere around the ship grew in size for a moment and the captain got out of his chair and walked up to the sensors manager, resting his hands on the railing.

"Okay, here are the orders." The captain said as he typed into the controls and a waypoint ping appeared in the black portion of the holographic projection. "We will move into cover in this asteroid belt and use the harvester drones to extract the raw material while the repair drones get to work on the hull. Once we are safely in the belt, I want us running at minimal power while navigation deploys its probes to get a position fix. Get the men down in PDA control to fire up the emitters and get the torpedo arsenal re-stocked ASAP. Finally, arrange training sessions for the point defense crews to work on their anti-fighter repulsion skills, too many strike craft made it through last time." The captain then turned to Anya. "Commander S'jet, walk with me."

Anya knew she would get it, she had made a serious mistake that she knew the captain would in no way let slide. When they were out of sight in the corridor, the captain gave her the same look that he gave on the bridge and she felt that knot in her stomach return. Once again she remembered that while her people were respectable officers in the navy, the man now securitizing her was from Kiith Soban. This was their life, this was their home and here she was questioning his decision.

"Commander, what in the name of Sajuuk was that?" The captain said, his intense gaze not lessening a single iota.

"Sorry sir, I just thought that perhaps we shouldn't be performing a sensors ping without knowing the area." Anya offered, her voice much weaker than she planned.

"I see, and questioning my orders on the bridge, what do you think that does to morale? I appreciate officers who can think for themselves and there is a place and time for us to have these discussions, but on the bridge is not the place for that. The crew needs to know that a clear chain of command exists and when the time comes, everyone from the officers down to the technicians will be performing their duties." The captain finally stopped, clearly waiting for an answer.

"Sir, I do not know what to say, I thought we had to be more cautious." Anya said, once again sticking to her original thought on the matter. She still had a hard time holding his gaze and wanted to stare down at the floor but her training told her to hold her head high and look the captain in the eyes.

"I was fully aware of the risk, but we need to know what is out there." The captain said, finally easing up his severe look. "I want you to address the bridge crew with a formal apology for breaking the chain of command and afterwards you are going to report to engineering and assist the team there in any way necessary. Perhaps this little lesson will give you a newfound appreciation for the chain of command. No one is above it, and the sooner you learn that valuable lesson, the sooner your odds of survival will improve."

Anya stood there in silence for a few minutes before she could move, the captain had left the corridor and returned to the bridge. Finally able to will her feet to move, Anya also made her way back to the bridge where the command crew was standing at attention with all eyes focused on her, clearly the captain had got their attention.

"Go ahead, commander. The officers are waiting." Hiirel looked at her, not with contempt nor of anger but a look of expectation. Expectation that she would do as instructed.

Anya clenched her fists, trying to calm her nerves, this was both hard on her pride and her fears. She hated public speaking and so far had been able to direct her career in such a way that she was not thrust into even the simplest of limelight. Clearing her throat, she began and her voice was wavering and a little weak. "I…I wanted to explain my previous actions, when we arrived here." Anya began as she looked over at the captain who gave her this look, this was not time to justify her actions. "I was not thinking clearly and broke the chain of command. As an officer I want to express my regrets about my actions and submit myself to the captain's judgement and punishment."

"Apology accepted commander, now report to engineering." The captain said as Anya left the bridge after giving a proper salute. On her way down, she at least had the chance to get a look at the interior of the ship, much more than she had before. The vessel was clearly designed not only to perform military functions but also to serve as a symbol of the Hiigaran race, everything on board the ship seemed to be designed to impress. Yet something else sparked her curiosity, the question that had been plaguing her since she boarded the vessel. Why? Every race in the galaxy knew who the Hiigarans were, this was no big surprise so why build a diplomatic vessel with military capability? They didn't need to make a show of force, everyone knew what the fleets were capable of even in the very limited numbers they could field.

"Commander S'jet, I hear you're here to help us with some maintenance?" The chief engineer asked, reaching the heart of the ship.

"Um yes, the captain said you could use a hand." Anya said, trying to make this seem not out of the ordinary.

"Don't worry, we all make mistakes now and again. Live and learn." The man assured her before giving out a whistle that silenced everyone in the large room. "Listen up, we have an extra hand for the next little while, I want you to extend her the courtesy demanding of an officer but that does not mean she is above the work. Someone get her some work clothes and get her to work, I hear the number five relief valve has been causing trouble and we need someone in the tube, start there." The man ordered.

Anya was given the coveralls and changed out of her crisp and pressed uniform into the pale blue uniform, zipping up the micro clasp and felt the slight hiss of the air escaping the inside and clinging to her body. The clothes left nothing to the imagination, but it protected her from injury and no loose fabric meant no losing limbs to lose fabric getting caught in machinery.

"Here you go, commander." A large man with a wide grin said, handing a specialized tool to her as she tied her hair back so it would not get in the way. It was clear that the man was Somtaaw based on his size and his job. True, Somtaaw were not considered warriors in their own right, but centuries of mining tradition did not just go away and many still preferred that life. Somtaaw miners made the best technicians and their famed 'workers' were known to be able to harvest the most dangerous of asteroid belts. As a result, they were usually very well built, one of the few groups that could almost pass themselves off as a Vaygr leaving to some rather nasty jokes. Jokes that only the most suicidal people would say to their faces.

"Commander," a young woman who looked to have just graduated from the academy said to her, she had short sandy hair and her sea blue eyes looked at Anya. "We're pretty sure the slip plate is causing us problems, you should be able to re-align it from inside the tube. We have a reading of your vitals, when we tell you to get out of there, listen to us as it is very warm in there and we don't want you getting sick from dehydration."

The woman opened the access hatch for her as steam billowed out of the small pipe. She thought the punishment was relatively light until this moment, it would be something she would remember for quite some time. Making her way into the open hatch, she wormed her way into the pipe, the air was humid and absolutely stifling as she worked her way to the problematic valve. She verbally cursed the designers of the ship for this 'oversight' wondering if they were in fact sadists who got sick pleasure out of subjecting crews to this. Something she would bring to her Sa, personally.

* * *

Ashley was almost at her workstation when Shepard had caught up to her, and while she just wanted to be left alone for now, she knew the commander would not let it go that easy. "Williams, you want to talk about this?"

Ashley rolled her eyes at this. Seriously, she wanted to talk? What would she say? Oh she could say whatever she wanted but the commander wouldn't understand a word that came from her mouth. Wait, she could say what she wanted and Shepard wouldn't understand, a small smile crept over her mouth.

"Come on Ash, just look at me." Sophia had protested.

"What do you want me to say skipper? I feel like a friggin' alien on my own species' damn ship? I don't want to have a turian playing creeper everytime we go to the citadel?" Ashley said, knowing the commander couldn't understand her and confirmed by her confused look. "Nothing at all? How about, take me to your leader?"

"Don't get smart with me, Ash." Sophia said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You understand me ma'am?" Ashley asked, surprised at this news.

"Look, I might not be able to understand you, but I can pick up on postures and tones pretty good and I know when a marine is getting smart with me. Look, I know this has been a shitty hand you have been dealt, but we are marines and we're usually getting the short end of the stick. You may not believe me, but we'll get this sorted out." Sophia said, her expressions softening. "So can I count on you to hold on until we get this sorted out?"

"Yes ma'am," Ashley said, coming to a salute but then deriding herself why she was bothering with a response, no one could understand her anyways.

"That's more like it. Hey, do me a favor and refrain from talking on the Citadel, we have enough problems without worrying about you ending up in some salarain lab. I'll just have your escort inform anyone who asks, that you are unable to speak."

Ashley nodded her head as she left the commander to her duties and made her way back to the hangar where she had made a home servicing the squad's weapons. When the elevator door opened, she saw something that made her blood boil. Her black tool case was open and that turian was servicing his rifle with her tools, _her tools._ As she approached the station, she could see that several of the tools had just been sort of dropped in the top tray and not in their proper place.

"Chief, I see you're awake. I must say, the Normandy is a well-stocked ship. These tools are aftermarket, not even Hahne Kedar." His statement was interrupted as Ashley stood beside him, picked up a rag and wiped off the tools that had not been cleaned properly before putting them away in their proper places and then snatched the one out of his hands and then shut the lid firmly on her tool case.

"Don't touch my tools again, you've been warned, turian." Ashely growled, looking up at the turian and her clear look of displeasure made evident.

"Um chief, what did you say? All I understood was 'turian'." Garrus said, the C-Sec officer clearly very confused.

Ashley let out a sigh, pointed at the tool case and then at herself, clasping her arms over her chest. She then pointed at Garrus, then the toolbox and finally at the hangar door. This little game of charades soon made it dawn at what she was getting at and what would happen if he touched her tools again.

"This is Commander Shepard speaking," the ship's PA came active as the crew was addressed. "What I am about to say is not to leave this ship. Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams had an encounter with a piece of Prothean technology and as such seems to only be able to speak the Prothean language. She can understand us just fine, but won't be able to answer you verbally. This doesn't mean that you need to treat her any different nor should you, don't forget villa rule number 22."

Garrus looked back at the requisitions officer who has stopped what he was doing. "What is villa rule 22?" He asked the man before directing his attention back at Ashley.

"Don't play head games with a marine, if you want to live." The man explained, "The rule about messing with a gunnery chief's tools runs along similar lines. Difference being that not even God, Jesus and Muhammad can save you if you incur the wrath of a marine gunnery chief."

"Well thanks a lot, no one bothered telling me this before?" Garrus asked as he looked at Ashley who had the look of an apex predator.

"Who am I to get in the way, a good fight is almost as much fun to watch as participate in." Wrex rumbled, getting up from where he was reclining. "Besides, how much damage could a human female actually do?"

"For crying out loud Wrex, stop trying to bait Ashley." The voice belonged to Sophia who had returned to the hangar deck. "I was just going to check on Adams and see if he was managing okay without Tali, and wander into this hornet's nest. Everyone get back to your stations, we're going to arrive back at the citadel in a few hours." Sophia looked at the group.

Ashely got the message and got to work servicing the weapons, and also time to think. Perhaps she had been too hard on Garrus, he was just trying to service his weapon and for all he knew she was out of action. Yet she felt like she couldn't help herself, not only had someone used something of hers without her permission, but when he was caught in the act he acted like there was no problem with it. Clearly the turian had no respect for her, some things never changed.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Ten-hut!" Ashley heard Kaiden call out as they stood in front of a man in a flag officer's uniform. The way that those green eyes stared at them and the way that he was standing knew that he was going to really strain her patience.

"Commander Shepard, Rear Admiral Mikhailovich of the 63rd scout flotilla. The Normandy was slated for my unit after shakedown, I've come to make an inspection to see that she is up to specs." The admiral stated, not even asking but just stating fact.

"Yes sir, let me know what you think." Sophia saluted the officer as he headed down the gangway into the vessel.

"Commander, do you really think that was a good idea?" Kaiden spoke up, giving Shepard a questioning glance.

"Relax lieutenant, he's all bluster and this ship is technically outside of the Alliance command structure until Arcturus states it's no longer a Spectre boat." Sophia had assured the lieutenant.

Ashley left the two to talk military politics while she walked off to the side, and looked over the sleek black and white hull. While she did not extensively study the Normandy design, even she could see that the vessel was much different than anything else the Alliance had in their arsenal. Human ships tended to have the same design implements from dreadnoughts right down to frigates with the outer hull sloping down at a forty five degree angle that supported the mass accelerator running the central superstructure. While some of those design features were visible, she could see that the birds had also had the hand in the design, hence the single fuselage and the wing design for the thrusters. It came down to military doctrine, the Alliance ships were designed to be fast but also had one of the smallest frontal silhouettes of any other race. The turians favored a more wider stance for their vessels that made them more robust but also a larger target, but then again why worry about losses when you have a fleet that can steamroll your opponent?

"What do you think of the Normandy, chief?" Kaidan said, standing beside her and causing her to break from her thoughts.

"Not a bad ship, not a fan of all the aliens on board, especially poking around key systems."

"Sorry chief, forgot about the communication problem." Kaiden responded, reminding Ashley of her problem that she tried desperately to forget. "Got a heads up from Moreau, says 'the admiral is on his way back with a Sputnik-sized bur up his ass'."

Ashley had to laugh at that one and wondered if the pilot knew what the admiral's last name was, which made the joke that much funnier. It was killing her as she so much just wanted to make a comrade comment to the admiral but was powerless to do so.

"Commander, I'm not impressed." The admiral had begun to dress down the commander on the vessel she commanded. "Putting the commander aft is about the most fool hardy move I've seen anyone make on a frontline warship. Commanders lead from the helm and not from the back, it is inefficient and bad for morale, and that is just the first of many problems. We could have had a heavy cruiser for the cost of this co-developed gimmick just so that the council could see we are playing nice with the turians. The amount of element zero that was required to build that drive core was the same as the refit for over one hundred fighter wings. I won't even start with your crew."

"Sir, the ship's design is modified turian style. We can't pretend that we have a monopoly on creative designs, we want to see if we can improve our combat effectiveness with that setup. As to her cost, if I remember correctly the advanced tactical fighter and space superiority fighter programs ran into the tens of billions of dollars and many politicians argued that they addressed a problem that didn't exist, let's remember how well those programs served us. Think about it, admiral. We can drop into an enemy system and remain undetected, we can relay the activities of the enemy fleets and when we find a weakness we can call in the fleet, like the old U-boat wolf pack leaders."

Ashley was impressed with the commander's grasp of military history and how well she adapted it to the current situation. The admiral thought about it and looked over at Ashley and was glancing down at her name insignia on her dress uniform.

"I see your point, but the last problem is far more serious. Alliance regulations are abundantly clear about classified military technology and foreign nationals. I respect that you are trying to make nice with the other races but you don't see Alliance offers given access to turian accelerator technology, salarain deep space scanners or asari kinetic barrier arrays. I am not forbidding them on your mission, but I am saying that they shouldn't be permitted access to technology that belongs to the Alliance." The admiral shook his head as he glared at commander. "We never should have given you this ship and just pulled one of the Bunker-Hill class ships off the line for you to use. It was our fault, we should have picked up on the red flag when you slotted the granddaughter of a coward and a turncoat to your crew."

Ashley felt like she had to almost physically bite her tongue as her fists were clenched hard and her entire body was beginning to shake with rage. She had been relived that she had not been wearing her armor with her weapons because she was pretty certain she would have pulled her Kessler on the man.

"Admiral Mikhailovich, you put me in a very difficult position. As an Alliance officer, I will kindly inform you that while I respect your opinion I will inform you that you are completely incorrect in your assessment. Garrus Vakarian, the turian specialist aboard only services the M-35 and that vehicle could hardly be considered classified or state of the art. Secondly, Tali'Zorah our outside engineer has increased the efficiency of our drive control systems and improved the discharge control on the FBA arrays. The only thing that is classified on this ship is the IES system and the only person who has unrestricted access to that is Engineer Adams and he comes highly recommended.

"Now, as to your comments about Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams and what you consider her grandfather's dubious past. As an officer of the Alliance, I will inform you that bringing up actions that are in no way a reflection on an NCOs ability, character, or devotion to duty could be seen by the Judge Advocate General as conduct unbecoming an officer as per the UCMJ and I don't really want to bother Admiral Hackett with a Captain's Mast, do you?" Sophia finished, standing up just as tall as the admiral, in fact to Ashley she seemed a million times bigger than the man who proved himself to be very small.

"Finally, Rear Admrial Mikhailovich." Sophia said, her expression turning even more intense, if such a thing was possible. "As a Spectre, I will inform you of the results if you ever think of making such accusations of my crew again. Your career in the navy will be more sunk than the Lusitania, I will use all my pull in the Citadel Council to bury you. Even if I go down, I will see to it that the only thing that you will be commanding in the future will be a third party recycling freighter. Do we have an understanding?"

"Commander, you have balls, I will give you that." The admiral said, barely able to maintain his composure. "I do not take kindly to be spoken to like some private late from returning from shore leave but you have proven your point. My report to the joint military council will not be as…negative as I had planned. Good hunting, commander." The admiral saluted and walked off.

"Sir." Sophia saluted as the man left.

Ashley's attention was diverted to the hissing of the hatch and footfalls as the other members of the crew had exited the Normandy. "So Shepard, that's what happens when a human steps in a Thresher nest?" Wrex rumbled, clearly catching the last part of the conversation.

"You missed the best part, she ripped into the guy like Chief Ellison. Russian asshole." Ashley blurted out and then when she got the confused looks and a somewhat annoyed look from Shepard. "Damn it, stupid beacon." Ashley grumbled.

"Chief, I'm serious. No comments until we get back aboard the ship. My Spectre status can only help us so much, we don't know who could be listening."

"Yes ma'am, shutting up." Ashley replied, waiting to see what Shepard had for them to do.

* * *

"Okay sir, we are in position and the navigation probes are away." A young officer stated to the captain, the whole command deck was rather silent after the recent event with the executive officer.

"Very good, let me know when you have an accurate position fix." Hiirel said, studying the sensors manager, seeing the tiny blips of the repair drones getting to work repairing the damages to the hull. In spite of everything, the ship had proven itself with its first encounter with the enemy. Sure their opponents were using ships that were mostly relics from the homeworld war but the fact that most of the damage was minimal after going toe to toe with a Skaal-Tel was a feat in and of itself.

"Sir, we are picking up a signal in the field, looks like there may be a long range probe out there. The signal does not match that of either Taiidan or Vaygr design, the output is not recognized by our comm array." The officer in charge of their signals and countermeasures announced.

"So this sector is inhabited." Hiirel said to himself and typed in some commands on the keypad that was inlaid into his command chair armrest before speaking. "Engineering, I want you to make your way down to the primary hangar deck, we are going to be bringing an object on board. Take Commander S'jet with you, she is a capable technician."

This was not another punishment, he had read her file and knew that while she did not score the highest in either hyperspace theory or many of the other disciplines that were sought after by Kiith S'jet, she excelled in one area that was overlooked. She proved herself to be very capable at looking at a piece of non-Hiigaran tech and making it work with relative success. That would prove to be invaluable here as they had no idea what they would be encountering, or whose technology that this was.

"This is the captain, we are going to be bringing an unknown object aboard, the hangar is to be isolated and the plasma vent system armed. The Naar Directive is in effect. I say again, Naar Directive in effect." Hiirel announced over the shipwide comms, knowing full well that many would question the wisdom of this decision, one of the officers that he knew was Somtaaw gave him a look to verify this feeling. He understood where they were coming from, last time an unknown object was taken aboard a Hiigaran vessel, it nearly wiped out galactic civilization and it was only thanks to the efforts of the warship Kuun-Lan that their race didn't buy it then and there. If a hostile organism was detected or tried to break out of the object, the hangar would be vented with drive plasma exceeding several thousand degrees and then vented into space. It was brutal, but history taught them that is was also necessary.

"Sensors, once we are in active range I want you to begin active electronic interrogation and get a makeup of the object." Hiirel said as he gave orders to his crew. "Helmsman, ahead slow and watch for debris. Navigation, when you have our position fix, I want you to lock standby hyperspace coordinates into the core's computer."

The warship began to slowly change course, Hiirel could see the view of the white star obscured by asteroids slowly change to that of brown and gray asteroids being bathed in the star's light. "Sir, we've begun initial scans, the object in question is relatively new based on its casing. Seems to be powered by some sort of decaying radioactive material that is similar to Reschiim-235/236 if these emissions are accurate."

"You mean like the warheads used in Kharak's old missile defense batteries?"

"Correct sir, but I'm not detecting anything else."

Hiirel stared at the screen, the composite that the scanner gave back was strange. The object was elongated, he guessed that the spherical section near the back housed the power source, but then something else caught his attention. The wings. "Lieutenant, are those solar arrays?" Hiirel said, using the adaptive interface to magnify on the object.

"Good catch sir, we were detecting faint electrical signals and assumed they were being generated by the nuclear power source."

"This may not be a probe at all, we may be dealing with an anti-captial ship mine encased to appear like it was a probe." It was devious but made sense, you could do much more damage to a ship by detonating a war inside the vessel as opposed to outside. Yet the ability to phase an object through solid matter belonged to science fiction. Science fiction and keepers, he shuddered at the thought.

"Okay, get some ordinance techs on the bridge, I want to know what the inherent risks of bringing this thing aboard are."

* * *

"Maavir, shaana. Deecori iina." Sophia heard the marine state to her. The poor girl was probably used to giving her gut feelings about what she thought and now she was essentially unable to convey those feelings to anyone. She couldn't blame her for speaking up, the admiral had no right to say what he had said, but had confirmed her suspicions about Ashley. She was the granddaughter of General Alexander Williams who surrendered the Shanxi garrison and it also explained why a marine with her skills was saddled with ground side duty.

"Okay, Garrus I want you to head with the chief down to C-Sec, we failed to let them know that their top cop is now working with a Spectre. Wrex and Tali, head down to Trans-Solar shipping and get them to send over their fuel tender, Tali should know what grade of fuel we need and how much while Wrex should be able to convince them that screwing us over in regards to price would be a bad idea. Kaiden and Liara are with me, the council wants me to give them a more detailed debriefing in regards to that mercenary band that we encountered on Therum." Sophia said, giving her orders to her people.

"Mercenary band?" Wrex spoke up, "I've been a merc longer than your people have mastered spaceflight and those were not mercs. Those people were professional military through and through. Your people have a saying Shepard, 'there are two things that are infinite, stupidity and the universe and I'm unsure about the universe'."

"Never thought I would hear you quote Einstein, Wrex."

"Shepard, you don't live as long as I have without picking up on a few things. Know yourself and know your enemy and you will be victorious in a thousand battles." Wrex said with a rumbling chuckle.

"Einstein and now Sun Tzu?" Kaiden was the one who then asked the question.

"Some books even krogan appreciate. Find me a krogan who would not want to read a book called, The Art of War."

"All right, we can pick the krogan warrior poet's brain later." Sophia said as she motioned the group to the elevator.

"You know for a lift that is supposed to lead to a large dock, they were not thinking when they designed this one. I feel like I'm trying to cop a feel on Wrex." Sophia stated from the back of the elevator. "From now on, we're only going down three at a time," the statement actually got a laugh out of the gunnery chief.

"You know what I mean, and I swear to God that if you even suggest a threesome joke I will know it even with the communication problems." Her threat only caused the chief to actually giggle.

"Ma'am, I think my hearing might be impaired, because I could have sworn that I just heard Williams giggle like a…" His statement was interrupted as he felt a hard punch to the back of his shoulder, courtesy of Ashley.

"Yeah, I would stop there, lieutenant." Sophia said dryly as they finally reached the C-Sec level, the door opening and the squad pouring out, much to the relief of all the occupants.

"All right, we'll meet you on the ship, this meeting with the council may take some time." Sophia said, watching Garrus and Ashley head up the stairs to C-Sec administration while Wrex and Tali hailed a skycar. Sophia ushered Kiaden and Liara to follow her, she had decided to walk to the tower as opposed to using the rapid transit.

As the three of them walked through the Presidium, Sophia reflected on what she was seeing and what the galaxy revealed to actually be reality. She knew what the perception of this place was, it was a meeting place where the races of the galaxies came together to work for the greater good of all races. Truth be told, it was merely a place where the council races maintained their spheres of influence and the associate races tried to get ahead within those spheres. Races like the volus had proven themselves very capable at this and made themselves quite successful in a role they were content with, and while humanity chafed under such an arrangement, there were deterrents to breaking the status quo.

The first examples were that of the quarians, they had tried to get ahead and out of the system through creating the geth but their plans resulted in a horrifying war. A war that the council was quite content to just allow go on without any support and even take away what they had here, namely their embassy. She shuddered at that thought, and while she tried her best to work with other races she was no fool and the same could happen to her people in a similar situation.

Then there was the council itself, a carrot and stick approach if she ever saw one. The Asari came in as a diplomatic race, appealing to the natural instinct of self-interest and if that failed, there was the turian stick that would beat down anyone who tried to climb over them. Sure they would cite laws and regulations but these laws and regulations were less about justice and more about maintaining their power. The salarians formed the last piece of the puzzle, providing information to the council to ensure that everyone played by the rules that were dictated by them.

"The council is ready for you, commander." The voice of the security officer brought her out of her thoughts and back to the present. The system was as corrupt as any other, but she knew this was the game that had to be played and so she played her part along with the rest of humanity. Hopefully, with time, the council would see what humanity had to offer and they would be seen more as equals and less like vassals.

Walking up the staircase, she couldn't help but think about the design of the chambers, in a way it reminded her of Earth's old kings. The throne was elevated so that no one sat higher than the king, and while it was not stated, here too you did not dare turn your back on the council. These steps too seemed to highlight that exact mentality, that you were climbing up towards those who were your greater and their place of power was divine right, not for mere mortals to question.

"Commander Shepard, we wanted you to clarify some information about this mercenary group." Tevos stated, as an image was projected where Saren had stood in the previous meeting. "We are unsure of these markings, what can you tell us about them?"

"Well, only that it does not match that of any language from our people."

"Of course, they must have devised some sort of coding system so no other rival group could use their equipment." Valern spoke up, giving Sophia the urge to bring her palm up to her forehead, how a group with this much experience could be so stupid was utterly mind boggling. Either that, or they refused to see the truth.

"You still believe that this is the work of a mercenary group?"

"Commander, it makes perfect sense. Only a merc group would design weapons without element zero technology, probably a stopgap measure given the cost of the resource and limited supply."

Sophia couldn't take it anymore. "With all due respect councilors, you need to take this more seriously than you are. That armored vehicle we encountered fired a round that we estimate is about forty times as dense as depleted uranium, they almost took down the kinetic barriers of my M-35 in a single shot. Our mass accelerator round bounced off the hull like the old Panther and Tigers and only because we were able to flank it and fire a round at near point blank range were we able to take it out. If these are mercs, they are the most well trained, equipped and organized mercs I have ever seen. To ignore this clear and present danger to Citadel space is an act of sheer lunacy, please try and behave like the council that you claim to be."

"That is quite enough, commander," Sparatus spoke up in a very defensive tone. "We are the Citadel Councillors and you are the Council Spectre, remember who answers to whom."

Sophia knew she had gone too far, and while most of the time she was able to reign in her emotions, when it came to military strategy, she was like her father. Zero tolerance for stupidity. "My apologies councilors, but I assumed by my report of a hostile force able to counter the passive systems of the most advanced recon frigate in the galaxy and ground equipment on par with our own and not having to use element zero, you would be taking this more seriously."

"Apology accepted, commander. Now, what can you tell me about their ground forces?" Tevos said, ever the diplomat and wanting to keep the meeting from being derailed too much.

"On that respect, we seem to have the edge. They seem to be using some sort of coil gun, utilizing large rounds at slower velocities. These rounds are not as accurate nor have the same penetration as our own, but once past the kinetic barriers seem to be able to penetrate actual armor better. Their own armor is relatively weak if you know where to hit. The chest plate is pretty strong, but if you aim for the neck and any other part of the body that needs to bend, you can easily punch through. I would recommend you send a combat advisory to the council races to go for neck or joint shots to take these guys down. Be aware that they are very careful with using cover and their automatic weapons have a high rate of fire that is deadly at close range." Sophia said, concluding what her people had learned on the ground.

"Very well, we will take your recommendations into consideration. Thank you for taking time out of your investigation to bring this to us in person." Valern said, the three councilors then taking their leave.

* * *

"First crap maintenance assignment and now ordinance disposal. Take note, weapons master Somtaaw, never ever question the captain's orders." Anya said, having been kitted in a flexible armored suit that was designed to protect her from vacuum space all the while allowing her dexterity.

"Look on the bright side, we've detected no beast bio signatures so at least we won't be incinerated by drive plasma." The large man offered.

"Very comforting, that just leaves getting blown to smithereens or who knows what else could be in this mine." Anya said weakly as they approached the device in the hangar. It had been placed over a drop hatch that was normally occupied by the transports. She could see the vehicle off to one side, it was essentially a Somtaaw 'worker' with the collector array and storage tanks stripped out and replaced with crew seating and more armor plate.

The floor hatches were designed to drop the vehicles rapidly out of the bottom of the ship as opposed to out of the forward launch bay in the event of hangar door damage. Here it would allow them to jettison the mine should the worse happen. Well, the second worse. The worse would be them setting off the mine and blowing apart the lower superstructure of the ship. Anya pushed that thought out of her mind as she kneeled next to the device and opened up the tool case beside her and then looked at the device in question.

"Command, I'm ready to begin opening the mine." Anya said, turning on the suit's audio and visual, allowing the experts on the bridge to offer suggestions as they got eyes on it as well.

Anya carefully dusted off the silvery metallic casing and could see where fasteners secured it. Fasteners? Who used fasteners? "Command, the object seems to have been assembled using non-PDA technology, going to use the multi-tool to remove the fasteners."

Carefully she picked up the cylindrical tool and attached the flat fitting that looked to seat crudely in the head of the fastener as she slowly rotated it, taking her time. After removing the last one, on the rectangular plate, she set the multi-tool down and gently removed the covering. What she saw made her breath hitch in her throat.

"C-command. Were probes ever launched from Kharak?"

"Not that I know of, why?"

"Well, what I am looking at cannot be of recent construction." Anya said, carefully checking the wires and taking note of the strange green plates with gold ridges and other objects protruding off its face. Near the front of the opening looked to be some sort of recording device, making her wonder at the nature of this object. "Whoever built this object did intend to observe something, but the presence of fissile material makes it….command, the nuclear material may be a failsafe."

"Explain, commander."

"Well, if you were worried about someone studying your tech, you would make sure this object could not be captured."

"What do you suggest?"

"It's a risk, but I would like to continue, the components are similar to old Kushan tech but not quite, there are peculiar differences such as the composition of these green rectangular pieces. Hold on." Anya noticed black, red and white strands coming out of the 'eye' of the object and going back to a red cube with white stripes and peculiar writing on the side. "I think I may have where they stored the telemetry."

"Be careful commander, we have no idea what will happen if we tamper with it."

"Sir, I believe this is intel we can't pass up but I defer to you judgement." Anya replied, the comms going silent for a moment.

"You're the one leaning over the thing, you know the risks."

"Okay, I'm extracting the module." Anya was able to remove the object, but then heard an audible click and something started to whine it the object. "Trip switch!" Anya shouted, "jettison the object!"

The floor opened up, and the object was pulled out of the vessel into space, the hatch closing again behind the object. A few moments later she felt the ship accelerate that was closely followed by a violent shudder. Her grip still around the object in her hand and looked at it, there were strange interface ports on the back, but none of which were compatible with their systems. The guys down in research would have a field day unlocking its secrets while she was once again disciplined by the captain for such a foolish action that could have destroyed the ship.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The bridge of the _Khar Valesk_ was a flurry of activity at the recent events, starting with the explosion but also of what navigation had just revealed to the crew. The data verified that they had travelled much farther than anyone had anticipated.

"You are certain about this?" Hiirel asked, having a hard time believing what he had just heard.

"Yes sir, we double and triple checked the telemetry. We are somewhere in the Great Light Galaxy." The announcement was hard to comprehend, but it also compounded their problems. They had travelled over 23 million light years, far outside their galactic cluster which rendered their starcharts useless. This galaxy was also massive, over twice the size of their own galaxy and given the resource potential for the Loyalists, it could be a bridgehead for a massive invasion force. That was why the enemy was trying to close the slipgate, close them off until they amassed enough strength.

"All right, when we are safe to maneuver I want us clear of this debris field and look for signs of civilization. First priority will be to locate any working technology we could possibly use in assisting the research teams with the module we recovered. We need to find the Loyalists and wipe them out. Make no mistake, if we do find them, they will become a serious threat to Hiigara." The captain said, giving his orders when he heard a ping on the sensor manager.

"Sir! Three assault frigates are closing in fast, most likely investigating that explosion."

"If you can't go to your enemy…" Hiirel said, studying the display, the ships were in standard line formation, taking full advantage of the forward firing arc of the Kudaark-class vessel. "Relay data to the fire control officer. I want a full spread of torpedoes on targets two and three, and have them warm up the ion array."

"Yes sir. Helmsman, come about to bearing one-one five and seven degrees up on the bow. Range to target is nine thousand eight hundred italiis bearing matched in two seconds."

"Fire when ready." The captain ordered, watching the sensors manager as the torpedoes left the tubes and streaked towards their targets. Space was very deceptive, the warheads seemed to be moving at a very low rate of speed, but that was due to the scaling of the sensors manager. Where this merely a second generation cruiser they would have had to be nearly twice as close. He watched as two points of light flared up and the frigates winked out of existence, the crews probably not knowing they were under attack until it was too late.

"Ion array is powered up."

"Wait for them to turn around and then get them in the stern, we need to cripple this ship and obtain their nav data."

"Yes sir." True to its name, the ion array fired at the opportune moment, the brilliant blue beam of light cut into the aft section of the lone assault frigate, boiling through armor plate and severing engine plasma lines and drive conduits. A few secondary explosions blew out the aft baffles of the ship before the ship's telltale sign of thrust dissipated and the ship began to roll slightly from the loss of primary power.

"Close into firing range for the point defense systems and pepper their hull, we need a distraction while Commander S'jet boards the ship and secures the intel." Hiirel said and looked back at his XO. "I need you to go over with one of the transports and secure their nav data, we're flying blind out here." He could see from the young officer's expression that she was surprised he was so readily putting her in harm's way. Truth was, this was not punishment, and he was conditioning her for what true war was really like. She would be taxed to her limit and then he would know for sure if she had what it took to command a warship, something that the other kiith knew very little about. Their people were a people forged in the fires of struggle, conflict and death as the old declaration said and Anya would have to learn that lesson if she was going to survive. Or she would not be able to handle it, and she would return to Hiigara to find something else to do with her life. Either way, when this patrol was done, he would know what manner of Hiigaran she truly was.

* * *

"Vakarian, let me get this straight. You're going to be working with that human Spectre?" Executor Pallin said in a tone that Ashley found was very condescending and were it not for her being unable to speak anything but that Prothean language, she would have given him a piece of her mind. In fact, he was pretty sure that the Executor was only saying what he was for her benefit.

"Sir, I am working with the Spectre to bring down another Spectre, I'm sure you can see the need of such an assignment." Garrus said in response, clasping his hands behind his back.

"Garrus, I know your father and he would not approve of you seeking justice in this way."

"Spare me the, 'do things the right way or don't do them at all' speech. I have heard it before, we both know full well that there is little as a C-Sec officer I can do to apprehend the wrongdoer in this case, but if I go with Shepard, I have a shot." Garrus said, his voice seemed to get more agitated as he spoke.

"Very well, I will change the status on your file as 'leave on special assignment.' So, how are you enjoying your other assignment of watching over a human? Reminds me of the days of 314 when we watched over humans on that colony until the Asari could come and educate them on how to behave in the galactic community." Ashley took a step forward and was ready to give this smug turian a piece of her mind but then Garrus took a step forward, slightly in her way, clearly trying to convince her not to do anything rash.

"Sir, with all due respect. This human under my supervision has not done anything wrong, and you cannot use your training to provoke a response. This is entrapment and it is completely inappropriate for an officer of your standing to be engaging in, I would regret it if I had to file a former complaint."

"Vakarian, are you challenging me?" The executor said, resting his elbows on the table and clasping his hands together.

"No sir, just reminding you of the regulations. You of all people should also know that bringing up the 314 Incident in front of a human is a very poor choice."

Ashley was surprised at this, she was not surprised that the turian behind the desk would bring it up, the turians constantly tried to provoke humanity. What surprised her was that Garrus spoke up in her defense, she knew he had to watch her and that Shepard expected him to keep her problem under wraps but the degree to which he spoke up in her defense was not expected. Perhaps she should cut him a little slack but…no, he was still a turian and she had to be careful around aliens, you can't assume they will react the same as humans.

"If that is everything, I have orders to procure fresh equipment from requisitions." Garrus gave a salute and opened the door, heading down to C-Sec academy, having to press through the crowds Garrus doing his best to get them through the group of people, reaching the elevator. Ashley bumped into a group of salarians and hanar arguing, one of the amphibian aliens scowling at her. "Daara Ailk," Ashley murmured as she passed them.

"What did you say?" The salarian asked.

They ignored the question and left the salarian behind who was now speaking into his communicator, while the two of them stood in the elevator. "Williams, you have to be much more careful, anything can arise suspicion. Especially among salarains, they are naturally suspicious to begin with. I know you were just being polite, but the commander knows what she is talking about.

"Garrus, what brings you down here?" The officer at requisitions asked as he handed an OSD to the man in question.

"Working as a liaison for Spectre Shepard, here are the authorization codes." Garrus said, and getting a surprised look from the officer in question for a moment. Yet his moment of shock was nothing compared to Ashley's as Garrus read off the requisition order.

"That's a tall order, but I can't make the delivery in one trip, so it will take some time to make delivery."

"Well, what if Williams and I kitted in our procured gear, you will be down two armor sets and two sets of weapons." Garrus offered to which the officer agreed.

Ashley was led off to a room that was clearly an officer's changeroom and her gear was left in the cases on the bench. When her escort had left, Ashley changed out of her dress uniform standing in her padded underlayer and opened the armor case. The armor in question was a beautiful set of pristine Titan medium armor, a significantly superior set to her old Phoenix set. As she began donning the pieces, she was surprised that the commander would or could drop so much credits on the gear. When everything was in place and secure, she opened the weapons case that contained her new Tsunami assault rifle, the finish reflecting in the room's lighting. Picking up the weapon, she checked down the sights before setting it on her back, the next came the Naginata sniper rifle. She opened the case, and ran her fingers down the side of the weapon, it was beautiful and a sheer work of art.

"Are you ready for this?" Ashley said, speaking alone in the room. "Fate has given you a chance, a chance to remove the guilt. Are you ready to pay the piper?" Ashley then double checked that everything was in order and left the room where Garrus was now standing with identical weapons on his back and donned in what she knew right away as Silverback armor.

"You look ready to take on fifty platoons of mercs. Remind me to thank Shepard when we get back on board." Garrus said, getting a look from Ashley. "Right, but it still stands, I never suspected this. The commander seems to take the well-being of her people seriously. This is top end gear, I almost feel bad for those who get in our way."

* * *

Anya sat in the transport looking at the others that were there with her, they were all geared up in combat armor with the actual marines in much heavier reinforced gear while persons like herself that have not been strength trained to carry such weight were in the much lighter armor that was designed to protect them from small blasts and the vacuum of the void, but not take the punishment that marine armor could. Even their weapons were much different. The marines carried the large and heavy C264 Burst Guns that proved themselves in combat, while she carried the much more compact V445 Flechette Rifle. The weapon was still slightly longer than her arm, but the much smaller singular rounds and magazine made it much less effective at fighting infantry or boarding repulsion teams. On her hip, just like everyone else she carried the H21 sidearm, something that was used in last resort.

"We're coming up on the target hatch, everyone be ready." The pilot said, as Anya looked forward and could see the looming image of the Taiidani assault frigate getting larger and larger in the windscreen. She knew they were safe for now, but that didn't mean that her throat was not getting dry in anticipation. An assault frigate had a crew of at least fifty, and these loyalists were fanatical in their devotion, they would have to in order to devote one's life to a dead emperor. Their transport was a modified Somtaaw worker-class vessel, proven to be a very effective boarding craft as a new proof of concept trying to reduce casualties in boarding operations. The concept was simple, the smaller vessels were small enough to latch on where ship firing arcs could not hit them, and they would then board and disable the enemy vessel's targeting systems and allow a marine frigate to board with reinforcements to take the ship. Difference was that they did not have a marine frigate to assist them and would have to rely on this small group.

"Don't worry ma'am, this is not our first number." A burly man in armor said next to her.

"I'm not nervous." Anya tried to muster, and be the officer she was expected to be.

"Nothing to be ashamed of, ma'am. You are a fine officer, but boarding actions are a little outside of your element. My men here have been boarding ships for quite some time, and the captain selected us because we are very good at it. Stay with us and we'll get you to your objective."

"Thank you for that, remember we need this intel and we can't afford to lose this ship. This is going to be a tough mission, and we need to secure the nav data while at the same time ensuring they don't set detonation charges in either engineering or the forward magazine." Anya went over the mission profile as they got close.

"You heard the commander. Listen up, I want Joreesh to lead team one to engineering, don't let them slow you down or get you pinned. They will be trying to slow you down so they can scuttle the ship. Eiisha will lead team two forward to the primary magazine and secure it from sabotage, while I lead team three up to the bridge and secure the nav data." The man announced as the transport gave a slight lurch and clamped onto the frigate.

"Fusion torches through in five seconds!" The pilot announced.

"All right boys and girls, stack up and give me two party crashers," the sergeant ordered. There was a hiss and rumbling sound as the hatch opened and a pair of canisters were thrown into the forced opening. This was followed by some confused and echoed shouts and an explosion with some screams. "Go, go, go!" The man barked and the soldiers poured into the frigate.

"Engineering right, magazine left. Bridge is left one bulkhead and up." Anya said, following behind the sergeant, she knew these ships very well and was able to give instructions on where to go through the maze. While in normal scenarios, these ships would be relatively simple to navigate, the poor lighting and battle damage made it a challenge.

Anya was the first up the ladder as they made their way towards the bridge, she ducked into cover as she heard the hiss and snap of rounds coming around the corner. "Hold up, they have a bottleneck around the next frame."

"You two, with me!" The sergeant barked as they sprinted across the corridor to an alcove on the opposite side. "Ready? Suppressive fire!" Within moments, the darkened corridor lit up with light as three burst guns opened up and forced the defenders into cover. "Move up, stay in cover and don't get caught in the open."

Anya watched as the soldiers moved up, they moved in a very similar way to the captain, beginning to understand where he was coming from. The captain must have started off doing things like this, things that most of the other kiith did not have to worry about because Soban took care of the heavy fighting. She could hear that the other squads were dealing with similar situations but were dealing with it.

"This is two, we ran into some resistance but we're pressing through, just coming up on the final stretch." This was heard with the sound of intense fire in the background. "This is one, we're about two minutes from securing objective, had to double back due to sealed bulkehead, most likely hull breach. We'll get it done."

Anya took up her position at the corner and began supporting the other soldiers, taking shots at the enemy where she could. One major advantage the flechette gun had over other small arms was that it was very accurate, allowing her to hit the opposing force at far greater distance. Eventually the Taiidani crew pulled back closer to the bridge and they pursued until they were outside of the main doors leading to the bridge.

"Three, this is one. Engineering is secure and I think Eiisha owes me a drink." The comm chatter was back. "Give me a break, we had to deal with some demolition charges that the guys had set up on the bomb magazine. We're just wrapping things up." The female voice was followed with the first male voice again. "Deal is a deal, you're buying."

The chatter would have continued were it not for the sergeant speaking up. "Will you two put a cork in it and leave your lover's quarrel for when we're not dealing with loyalists shooting at us? Get your people out here and help me put down the last of these assholes."

"Yes sir." Came the dual reply on the comms.

Anya had moved up to where the sergeant was and could see what he was talking about. "A heavy weapon?"

"That about sums it up." The sergeant winced, a little red dripping out from under his armor. "Round took a chunk out of the frame and put it in my shoulder. Medic says I should be fine, he foamed it up good. But we're not going anywhere with that heavy machinegun blocking our approach."

Anya began running through her mind what they could do, before pulling up a datapad from her kitbag and pulled up the schematics on the class off vessel. "I should be able to trigger a pressurization alarm for the bridge, which should allow someone to travel through the environmental conduit that comes out on the side of the bridge here." Anya said, pointing to the point on the schematic. "If they move fast, they should be able to drop the gunner with their sidearm and if everyone here moves fast, they should be able to reach the gun before someone else can get on it."

"Commander, it would work, but none of my people can fit through with their gear. They would have to go in unarmoured with just a sidearm, very unlikely to pull it off."

"That's why I'm here, my gear is not too big." Anya said with a weak smile.

"Ma'am, the conduit is not armored, it will not protect you from return fire."

"Look, the longer we wait, the greater the chance that they have on destroying the nav data."

"For all we know it is destroyed already, and you're putting your life needlessly at risk," the man responded.

"Unlikely, they need power to wipe the database. Look, I'm going in the environmental conduit and I'm going to take out that gunner. Just have your men ready to rush in, also get on the horn with the transports and have them ready to connect with the aux power couplings so we can get the data."

"Yes ma'am. Good luck."

Anya shouldered her rifle as she used a utility tool to open the access hatch where she used her datapad to interface with the mechanical system and trigger the alarm. Fortunatley with the power out, the mechanical system activated but no audio or visual alarm went off to alert the bridge crew what they had done. With this taken care of, she opened the grate for the pressurization conduit and began crawling through the circular tube towards her destination. Every time she reached a seam where an isolation door was retraced, she would subconsciously hold her breath as she shimmied forward and tried not to think of the grim death she would face if her actions were discovered and those doors would snap shut.

As she reached the far side, and looked out of the grate, she recognized the problem she would be facing. The tube was even a tight fit for her and she could see that along with the gunner there was another five people including who she assumed was the captain, all taking cover behind consoles and framework. She should be able to drop the gunner and maybe a couple of the others before they opened up on her but after that, she would be in trouble as she would never get out of the tube and into cover fast enough.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." Anya whispered to herself as she carefully removed her H21 sidearm from its holster and lined up through the slats, steadying her breathing and doing her best to minimize noise. She lined up the sights with the back of the machine gunner and squeezed off a round, followed by a second. The man dropped to the ground and was followed with shouts and gunfire.

The rounds came faster than expected and she opened up on the hostiles, feeling a searing pain in her right leg. This was stopped with a tremendous explosion as the ship rocked violently. Were it not for the confined space she would have been thrown around. Gritting in pain, she forced open the grate and fell to the ground on the bridge of the ship. As luck would have it, the explosion had killed the remaining hostiles, so at least she didn't have to worry about dying right then and there when the ship rocked again.

"Commander, are you alive?" A voice in the distance said.

"I'm fine sergeant! What the hell is going on?"

"We're under attack, transport pilots tell us that a carrier group has just dropped in and they are targeting the frigate."

Why was he yelling at her? As she used the console to help herself up, she could see why. A large section of the corridor bulkhead had collapsed, essentially trapping her inside. Anya then looked down at her leg and could see that she had indeed been hit, there was no way she would be going back the way she came in this condition. "Tell those transports to get me power!"

Anya then slowly pulled her way to what she was certain was the fire control console. Eventually the power did return and the blue backlight of the consoles lit up and the archaic system came to life. She saw what was targeting her, a pair of assault frigates, and while the _Khar-Valesk_ could normally handle them, there was also a contingent of ion cannon frigates and destroyers keeping the ship at bay. Going over to the navigation terminal, she pulled out a data unit and plugged it into the system that began to copy the nav information. She saw right away that the data was incomplete, with information on about only one percent of the galaxy. When she had everything she could possibly get out of the console, she pulled it out of the port and limped to the corridor.

"Get this to the captain." Anya said to the sergeant as she reached through the small opening left by the fallen debris.

"What about you?"

"Don't worry about me, I'll take an escape pod. The captain needs the data, now get out of here, that's an order!" Reluctantly the soldier left and Anya made it over to the pod and crawled inside, she made certain to disable the distress beacon, knowing full well that the risk of capture would be too high. A few seconds later, shepunched the button and the pod launched with all the others. With any luck, the Taiidani would target the pods with the beacons and not notice hers.

* * *

Sophia had returned to the Normandy, having received a message that Admiral Hackett of the Fifth Fleet wanted to speak with her. Stepping through the airlock, she heard the VI chime, "logged, the commanding officer is aboard, XO Pressly stands relieved."

Walking down the corridor, she could see all her crew at work, checking systems running processes and a myriad of other mundane tasks that made this ship perform on the cutting edge. Anderson sure knew how to pick 'em, they were all dedicated officers and soldiers of the Alliance, the cream of the crop.

Entering the communications room, the door closed behind her and locked making her believe this was more than just a simple communique. Walking up to the console, she activated it and heard the voice of the Admiral.

"Shepard, good to hear from you. Look, I know you're officially a Spectre now but something uncomfortable has come up."

"What do you mean 'uncomfortable', admiral?" Sophia said, keeping her voice level. Hackett was usually a straight shooter and cut right to the chase and for him to beat around the bush like this was very atypical.

"During the first contact war we launched dozens of espionage probes into turian space."

"Understandable sir, but I don't see how a spy probe could be considered uncomfortable." Sophia responded, wondering where this was going.

"We didn't know what we were dealing with and didn't want anyone examining our technology. Each probe as a twenty kiloton demo nuke built into them. We just received a tampering alert on one of them."

"Are you saying that one of these things just went off?" Sophia suddenly felt like she needed to sit down.

"That's correct, I have the coordinates and it detonated in an asteroid belt in the Voyageur Cluster."

"Voyageur Cluster, how did it get over there?"

"Unknown, but I want you to go there and look for any wreckage. We need to know what set it off and if we should expect backlash because of it. There is one more thing, we have reason to believe that a black ops organization has been active in the area, they are presumed to be linked to the loss of a group of soldiers under the command of Admiral Kahoku."

"I'll get right on it sir, and I'll be discrete." Sophia said and cut the comms before leaving the room. Walking over to the command pedestal, she sent the co-ordinates to navigation before heading down to the lower levels of her ship, wanting to find out how the rest of the crew fared.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Sophia arrived down on the hangar deck, and immediately noticed that Ashley was at her workbench, but oddly enough Garrus was standing right beside her. This immediately drew her attention and she walked over, seeing all the squad's lockers open with the new weapons cases stacked to the right. Strangely enough, Ashley and Garrus were both wearing their armor and as she approached, she began to see what they were working on. Ashely was breaking down all the new weapons and then running them over with her brushes and various other firearm upkeep implements. She was then handing them to Garrus who seemed to be checking each part with is omni-tool before reassembling them.

"You know, I just bought these weapons. There a reason you guys are servicing them?"

"Commander, weapons manufacturers build the weapons, they don't use them in the field. In the first order, they use very basic lubricant that hoards dust like credits to a volus banker. The compound also tends to break down in sub-zero temperatures, also their tolerances for the sighting systems is not as good as it could be." Garrus offered as he finished assembling one of the new Katana shotguns, checking the sights before walking over and securing it in Wrex's locker.

"Arming a Krogan, is that wise, turian?" Wrex said with a rumbling chuckle as he looked over.

"Sure why not? Until we get Saren, I think you only have one turian in your sights." Garrus responded as he walked back to his place at the bench.

"Garrus, I understand you want to assist the chief, given your history but I thought you had to put new laser gyros in the Mako." Sophia said, looking over at Ashly who seemed to be smiling a little or at least not as sour as she had been.

"Already done, the chief offered to help me. Worked the heavy winch like a pro, we made the change and swung the gyros. Systems seem to be working perfectly, but we won't know for sure until we field test it."

"Wait, how did the chief offer to help?" Sophia was surprised to hear this, was she doing better?

"Ailk shoreen teelna….shaana."

"Okay….so still no English."

"After we stowed the gear, she must have noticed I was having a hard time operating the winch and securing the chains so she walked over to the winch controls and made that human sound. Hey Wrex! What do the humans call that?"

"A whistle, turian."

"Right, so I looked up where she was standing and she…"

"Nodded." Wrex added with a deep grumble.

"Yeah, she nodded, I returned the gesture and we got to work. When the turret was off, she went into the casing and brought over the new gyro and tools. Didn't have to ask her to do much, must know her way around heavy equipment. When we were done, she went back to her workstation, I was going to ask if she intended to use stock weapons in the field but she kind of beat me to the punch. Given the amount of weapons that you bought this time around I figured she would need a hand, only fair given how she helped me out." While he was talking, Garrus was still working, taking the parts that Ashley handed to her and in fact they seemed to be working very well together in spite of a pretty rocky start.

"Okay, I understand that, but what's with the armor?" Sophia figured it was a little strange to see them both geared up. She understood Garrus, he never seemed to be out of his armor, in fact him and Wrex seemed to walk around in it even on the ship. He understood Tali doing so as it wasn't optional but these two?

"Well, we would have had to make two trips if we just carried it all, so we figured it would work better if we just wore ours over. Guess the chief just hasn't had time to change." Garrus offered.

"Or she's trying to impress her new boyfriend by emulating him." Sophia said with a wide grin, getting Ashley to snap her head in the commander's direction, the at ease look replaced with a furrowed brow. Hell, if looks could kill she would have been scoped and dropped right then and there. "Easy there, chief. Just a joke."

Ashley returned to her work and just shook her head, getting a chuckle from Sophia and looked over at a very confused turian. "Don't worry Garrus, I'm just taking the piss out of her…er I mean just joking around."

"Commander! I'm glad I found you, Liara and I found it. You won't believe it!" Sophia turned around to see a very excited quarian come out of the lift, speaking about a million miles a minute, surprised she was actually able to understand her at all.

"Are you coming?" Tali continued, standing impatiently at the lift.

"Calm down Tali, what have you found." Sophia said as she entered the lift and pressed the button for the next level up.

"This beacon is different, something unexpected." Tali said, grabbing Sophia by the wrist and almost dragging her through the med bay into the lab. Once inside the lab, she could see the various green components and 'glass' from the beacon littered all across the lab, but then something caught her eye and clearly Liara's mind was on the exact same thing.

"One of these things is not like the other." Sophia beamed as she pointed at the object. It was a strange device, a casing that was almost orange in color, and the design was something far different. Other than a few ports, it was essentially a cube that was about half a foot in all dimensions. Liara gave her a strange look, reminding her that in the future she should stop making human references in front of non-human crews.

"Commander, we believe this is what caused the beacon to explode, we also believe that this is the source of Ashely's problems. The device is not Prothean."

"I thought this didn't surprise you, Liara." Sophia offered.

"Shepard, this device isn't even remotely based on Prothean technology. Whatever it is, it had to be spliced into the beacon's systems making whoever designed this are evidence of a race that advanced without Prothean technology. You know what this means?"

"Slow down Liara. Have we found out what this does?"

"Shepard, Liara just explained it's not Prothean tech."

"That's why I brought you along Tali, can't you hack into it or something?"

Tali just shook her head and placed her hand on the top of her mask, Sophia realizing she just made a serious facepalm moment. "Shepard, I can find a workaround to most tech because every race in the galaxy bases their technology off Prothean technology. We don't have anything to go off of, no reference point. It would be like trying to decode a language without actually hearing it or seeing the alphabet."

"So why did you bring me up here?" Sophia was not much of a tech person, and hoped these two would cut to the chase.

"The point is, we may have come across more than we thought." Liara spoke up.

The Taiidan, it must have something to do with them, Sophia thought as she looked over what they had. Wait, that one on the recording was understandable, so perhaps the geth or Saren had a translation protocol that allowed them to understand whatever language Ashley was speaking right now.

"All right, catalog what you have, then pack this up for now. Tali, if you could head down to engineering when you could I'm sure one of my people have fumbled something on the drive core by now." Sophia looked to the quarian with a smile, pleased with what they had come up with. "Good job, both of you."

* * *

"Sir! Waveform event, they are attacking the crippled frigate."

"Damn it," Hiirel cursed under his breath. "All crew, man your battlestations. Get us within firing range of hostile ships." As soon as he gave the order, he felt the ship shudder and the lights flicker momentarily. "Report!"

"We are being hit by capital-class mass drivers. The rounds are coming outside of the asteroid belt, I can't get a fix in this dust. The enemy must have a probe in the area, our sensors are still weakened from that blast."

"All right, get us out of here, find out where those shots are coming from."

"Helmsman, you heard the captain." The chief of the boat ordered. "Sir, that frigate won't last long before succumbing."

"You know full well that we can't leave whoever it is on our flank. We'll just have to hope the commander and the boarding party can get off before she blows." Hiirel said as he watched the sensors manager, squinting his eyes slightly at it as if by his own willpower he could make the ships appear. Eventually the cruiser picked up speed and they were clear of the debris field, and red point began lighting up across the map.

"Tactical, what do we have."

"We have one carrier, a destroyer, what looks like four…wait five ion frigates and at least a dozen assault frigates. The carrier is launching fighters and corvettes as we speak."

"Any bombers?"

"No sir, but it seems that some of the assault frigates are breaking off to engage something. Wait, they're destroying life pods, I think our people did capture it sir."

"We need to keep them interested, we might have soldiers in those pods. Helmsman, bearing zero three zero and forty degrees up. Fire control, start getting fish off the rails and into that carrier. I want the point defense systems spun up and shooting at anything that moves. We may not be able to take them on, but we can sure as hell throw them into a little confusion."

"Sir, the enemy will no doubt try and screen the carrier with frigates."

"Then I hope, helmsman, you know how to thread the needle. I'm not leaving my people to die at the hands of the Taiidan, is that what you are suggesting."

"No sir. All hands, man your battle stations. Secure for close engagement." The helmsman announced as they surged forward. To most commanders it would have seemed insane to throw such a heavy capital ship by itself against a frigate line, which is why it was accepted strategy that you promoted frigate captains to captain frigates and not cruisers. Each class of vessel developed certain tendencies among the command crew, and accepted strategy was that cruiser stayed back to support the fleet. To the Taiidani captains, they assumed that the cruiser was closing in for a near broadside shot.

Yet the vessel keep surging forward, the torpedoes fired first, coming out of their launch bays, but the close screen meant they were impacting on the frigate screen. Next it came into ion cannon range but instead of decelerating to allow power to be shunted to the cannon, primary power was still mostly being sent to the fusion drives. The Taiidani ion frigates opened up, their energy beams digging into the hull of the cruiser, but given the rate of closure, few ion frigates could find their mark as they had been placed on the flanks in preparation for the broadside that never came.

Eventually the frigate captains realized what was happening and began pulling evasive maneuvers to avoid colliding with a ship at rapidly accelerating velocities and over ten times their tonnage. The cruiser surged through the line, its point defense burst turrets, flechette guns and pulsar turrets tearing into the flanks of the frigates, introducing the enemies of Hiigara to their new ship in a very Sobani fashion.

Hiirel watched as they cleared, wishing for a second to see the expression on the face of that carrier captain as he bore down on the vessel. "Divert all power to the ion array, and get us pointed at that launch bay. Fire when ready." The massive primary weapon let loose its charge stream of energy, entering the large opening in the front and tearing through strike craft and hull plate inside before slamming into the back of the hangar bay.

For all its advantages, the older carriers had a very fatal flaw, they were highly susceptible to fire from the front, hence the screening frigates. Newer carriers had a workaround in that the launch bays for the strike craft and frigates were at separate points, but this was not a modern carrier. The ion shot had torn into the engineering section of the carrier, as massive secondary explosions began tearing up the aft section of the vessel.

"Return power back to propulsion, max down angle. Get us back to the boarding crew." Hiirel said, feeling the ship groan from the maneuver, given the high velocity they were still moving at, the inertial dampers straining to keep up and prevent everyone from being pancaked on the ceiling.

"Sir, we're getting a signal. Patching it through."

"Captain, we're coming it hot, we have a pair of bad guys on our six. They've blown away the frigate but we have the nav data."

"Sergeant, where is the commander?" Hiirel asked, fearing the answer.

"Escape pod, sir. She got cut off but handed me the data."

"Is she..." Hiirel saw what they had done to the other pods.

"Don't think so sir, she trashed the distress beacon so unless the loyalists start scanning actively, I don't think they'll pinpoint her position." Hiirel was relieved, but he also knew they would have the same difficulty.

"All right, get on board, sergeant. Let's get that information. Fire control, target the pursing frigates."

* * *

"Stupid Shepard." Ashley grumbled to herself, making her more self-aware of the work she was doing with the turian. She thought that she was just helping the turian work on the turret and he was helping her out. She might not like working with them, but given how he stood up for her in front of that jerk Pallin she felt she owed him to at least try and be civil. At the very least, she found that she could at least work with him without the need of incessant talking which was a refreshing change. She was by no means a quiet person on her down time, but she was not a fan of someone telling them their life stories when they had work to do.

"All right chief, that should be the last of the long guns. Just the pistols left." Garrus said as he walked over and stowed the last rifle in her locker.

"Ash." She said to the turian, not really a fan of being called chief or Williams every waking hour. She had enough of it with those within the chain of command, it just didn't quite feel right with those outside of the chain. Besides, the turian was all right. He may have done stupid shit like touching her tools without asking, but at seeing how he reacted when he found out what he did wrong it was clear nothing intentional was meant by it. So letting him caller her by her shortened first name, he deserved at least that much.

"Okay…Ash." Garrus said as he watched her break down and grease up the weapon, Garrus then took the part that was handed to him and fitted the scram rail into the weapon and began to reassemble it. "Mind if I ask you a question? I was checking some information about 314 and read that the surrender of the garrison was ordered by a General Williams, was he a relative of yours?"

Ashley stopped what she was doing cold, it was hard enough telling other humans about her grandfather, the one who surrendered to the turians, but to hear the question posited by a turian made it all that much worse. She stopped what she was doing and stared down at the workbench, part of her mind told her that the turian was asking a simple question, trying to understand but another part reminded her what nature of person was standing beside her. She blinked away her vision that was getting a little blurry and sniffed a little before getting back to work, and hoped the turian picked up on that and dropped the subject.

"Sorry, forget I asked." Garrus said and got back to work. This only lasted for a second as general quarters began sounding on the deck. Ashley began securing her tools and the few weapons they had not got around to and turned to see that Garrus had donned his helmet and weapons, passing her the assault rifle, sniper rifle and helmet from her locker. Along with Wrex, the three of them left the hangar bay into the CIC that was a flurry of activity.

Ashley saw Shepard standing on the commander's pedestal, the rest of the crew quiet as she began giving out orders. In spite of the peculiar setup, it seemed to be working rather well. The galaxy map had been changed to a LADAR display and the fact that they were getting returns was evidence they were out of FTL.

"Joker, talk to me."

"Shepard, we have multiple bogies. Similar to the ones over Therum, although looks like something happened to them, at least one of them is venting atmo and radiation. Wait, I'm getting a new profile, LADAR is getting an image now. Commander, I think I'm in love." Joker said as the composite image popped up.

Ashely could see what he meant, the ship had very sleek and elegant lines all the while it seemed to cast a very clear picture of authority.

"Joker, I think you should see a doctor."

"Come on commander, while those other ships look like a straightforward way of killing you, that ship looks like a very elegant way of killing you and giving the readings I'm picking up, killing is what that ship is doing very well."

"Okay Joker, bring us in, looks like we may have found a faction we can work with. Can we offer them any assistance?"

"Not given the amount of firepower they're throwing around. I'm picking up heavy weapons fire, not nearly the velocities we're used to, but given the size of the rounds and volume of fire it would be like flying through a hailstorm. We're better off waiting until things calm down."

Ashely watched the image with curiosity, making sure to stay out of the crew's way. The singular vessel that was fighting appeared to be taking on over a dozen warships and was holding his own. "Okay Joker, get us into the asteroid belt and keep us back for now."

"Yes ma'am, I must say. They're really big."

"Agreed, those vessels are something we should not tangle with."

"Not that commander, I was referring to the size of that captain's brass balls."

Ashely watch the commander shake her head at the comment, Joker was a character, that was for sure but based on his tone it was perhaps his way of dealing with stress. He was right about one thing, either that captain was really brave or crazier than a shithouse rat.

* * *

Anya adjusted herself in the escape pod, taking a look through the viewport, seeing the occasional explosion, knowing that as long as weapons were firing the captain was in the fight. They should have known, the commander of that last frigate had banged off a distress signal just prior to boarding and now they were in for a world of hurt. I guess now they would know just how well their ship truly was constructed. Anya winced as her mind was brought back to a more pressing concern, that being her wounded leg. Shifting her position once more, she reached over to a kit with two blue circles on it, the galactic standard symbol for medicine. Opening the kit, she went through what she would need.

The first thing she pulled out was a small bottle of disinfectant that she set down on the seat next to her, next came a jar of antibiotics and a syringe and last was some bandages and medical foam. Anya cringed as she looked down at the two entry wounds on her leg, one was on the right side of her thigh and the other just above her knee. The one higher up was not a concern as she could feel the exit wound but the one by her knee was a major concern as there was no exit wound. This meant that it stopped somewhere inside her leg which was both good and bad. If it had gone all the way through it would have probably shattered the bone and resulted in the leg needing to be amputated but it also meant that she would need medical attention soon or risk it becoming infected even with field treatment.

Anya first removed her helmet and set it down before she opened the bottle of disinfectant. There was no way around it, this was going to really hurt. Looking down, she aimed the bottle at the upper exit wound and then jerked the bottle splashing the wound liberally and quickly did the same with the upper exit wound. She set the bottle down, shaking and gritting in pain, struggling not to spill the remainders of the valuable contents and finally let out a scream of agony as she struggled to remain conscious. As her breathing once again slowed down, she gave a similar treatment to the lower entry wound with similar results.

Afterward, when she could think clearly, she reached over for the jar and syringe, taking the cap of the syringe off with her teeth, she inserted the needle into the top of the lid and drew out the appropriate contents. Looking down at her wounds, she steadily brought her hand down and inserted the needle into the exposed and damaged flesh, hoping this would aid in slowing any sort of infection and if she was very lucky it would allow her to keep the leg.

Finally, she injected all three openings with the foam that would reduce the amount of bleeding and restrict foreign material from getting inside. Finishing off, she tied off a pair of field bandages and then stowed the field kit. Soon she felt some rumbling and looked up, seeing a planet approaching very fast. This kicked her into high gear, she should have been paying more attention to her surroundings. There was no doubt that the pod could handle re-entry but the question remained how it would touch down, she quickly donned her helmet again and secured herself into the harness. This one was going to be rough, she just knew it.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Sir, we can't take much more of this. We need a call right now." The young officer said, trying to keep his voice steady in spite of the fact that they had pretty much stirred up the Skaal den in the worst possible way. The initial run had disabled a carrier and taken out three assault frigates even after the ambush, most of that was due to the new vessel with significant capabilities but also due to the unorthodox attack plan. Yet the Taiidani were not fools nor inexperienced, they had recovered much faster than expected and were now starting to effectively hit back now that they had changed formation. While the frigates were doing minimal damage, primarily because their maneuvers did not allow the ion frigates to get a bead on them, the destroyers were closing in and the rounds were starting to damage the hull.

"Once we get the transports on board, we will get out of here." Hiirel assured his crew as he studied the sensors manager and looked for an escape route. They were skimming along the asteroid belt, just keeping clear at full military thrust with the enemy destroyers on their tail and the frigates pushing in on their right flank. The advantages of such a maneuver was that the enemy would not be able to press them from both sides and the large asteroids meant that it would throw off their targeting computers. The risk was that the sensors were partially blind and they would have no way of knowing what was on the far side of the asteroid belt.

"Time to rendezvous is two minutes. Sir, what about the commander?"

"If the Taiidan have not found her now, they probably won't bother searching. Once we have the nav data we'll get out of here," he was interrupted as the ship lurched and another alarm went off, adding more work for the crew. "With any luck, we can double back later and pick her up."

"Sir, the enemy hit our short-range sensors array!"

"Damn it," he could see what she meant. The sensors manager now had dozens if not hundreds of hostile pings flaring up and then disappearing. In this fog, there was no way that they would be able to determine what the solid contacts were nor fire the weapons effectively. "I need this cleaned up, I don't care what you do but we can't fight like this."

"Working on it sir, recommend we disengage."

"Without that nav data we will be jumping blind in a completely unknown galaxy. We hold until the boarding party returns."

"Yes sir."

Hiirel watched as the sensors slowly started to return to normal, he still had some phantom pings but at least he had some weapons back online. Already he had picked up on several flaws in the design that he would relay to command when they returned home. Too many of the vital control systems were on the aft of the vessel and too prone to damage in the defense, the other problem had to do with the reduced efficiency of the torpedo manufacturing. They had higher initial stores but it took nearly five minutes to produce a set which was their only offensive operation in the defensive. The other problem being that the point defense system had no firing arc on the aft of the ship, any decent bomber pilot could perform strafing runs from the stern with impunity.

"Sir, we're clearing the range of the destroyers."

At least something was finally going in their direction for now, the large fusion drives finally allowed them to pull ahead of their pursuers and only had to deal with the frigates and while he knew that all he would have to do was come about and the superior guns of his cruisers would obliterate the enemy, that would also allow the destroyers a chance to catch up.

"Boarding team is secure, data is being brought to the bridge as we speak."

"As soon as we have that data, plot us a course out of here, preferably out of the range of Taiidani guns."

It didn't take long for the man in question to arrive on the bridge in a hurried pace, handing over the data to the navigation officer. The man took the device and plugged it into the nav computer, soon the navigation screen that was paired with the sensors manager, one that had been just a holographic image of the galaxy now began popping up with hyperspace data that filled in points on display.

"Looks like the Taiidani have not pressed too far into this system…um galaxy?" The navigation officer said, trying his best to get his head around their predicament. "I'm reading nav data on less than twenty hyperspace nav coordinates."

Hiirel studied it carefully, finally picking one that seemed relatively safe based on the location and where the Taiidani were focused around. "This nebula should satisfy our needs, set course and initiate hyperspace jump."

The crew began going about their tasks, and were about to transition when a violet lurch of the ship threw Hiirel out of his command chair and alarms began blaring across the deck. "Report," the captain barked out as he pulled himself off the floor, waving of help from the chief of the boat.

"Sir! Heavy mass driver round impacted from through the asteroid belt and hit the aft section, reactors one and two are offline and drive plasma has damaged the ion array. Hull is still safe for transit, but until we find out what hit us, I cannot recommend hyperspace transition." Hiirel knew why that was, the very nature of hyperspace navigation required that the ship be stationary to determine their exact entry position.

"Helmsman, get us on the far side of that asteroid belt and find out what is firing at us." Hiirel had a feeling in his gut and knew there was only one ship that could dish out so much damage in a single shot. He hoped by the martyrs of Kharak he was wrong.

* * *

"Joker, what the hell was that?" Sophia spent enough time on starships to pick up on many things, one of them was reading sensor data. While she knew what it was, it was force of habit to posit the question to the helmsman.

"Impact event on the unknown, backtracking it now. I'm guessing you want the source?" Joker said even as he moved the Normandy towards the location in question.

Sophia didn't like this one damn bit, the impact event was pushing at least single digit megatons and that little fact spoke loudly to the shipwright put into the unknown as well as the sheer firepower of these hostiles. One thing that she found was odd was that the vessels seemed to have an effective range of about ten kilometers as their weaponry seemed to travel at very slow velocity. She didn't think much of it until what she was certain was a carrier was nearly gutted stem to stern with a powerful directed energy weapon which made her also wonder at the power source of these ships. As they reached the other side of the asteroid belt, what she was seeing and seeing was what they were doing as by sheer luck they were within one kilometer of the enemy vessel. The enormous vessel sported three massive turrets, and they were massive as well as a pair of them on the nose. The vessel was in the same yellow and red color of the vessels that they had encountered over Therum.

"Hold on people!" Joker shouted as he pulled the Normady into an aggressive rolling dive as a round streaked overhead. Their pilot performed these weaving motions until they were well to the aft of the enemy vessel, clearly not the primary target as it surged ahead.

"Joker, what is that thing?"

"You're asking me, you're the Spectre." Joker gave a resigned sigh as he stared at his screen. "By dimensions it's slightly shorter than the SSV Everest, with similar beam and three times the height. Mass wise, the best guess puts the vessel well over two million tonnes."

"Two million tonnes?"

"Yeah, but that's using basic information. I have no idea what kind of hull thickness we are talking about, but given the size of the round that was fired at us, it's hardly surprising."

"How big are we talking, five hundred pounds?" Sophia said, based on the size of the ship she felt that was a safe guess.

"Try about the size of the Normandy's fuselage. If that's what hit the unknown, I got to know what the hell they build their ships out of."

"I guess you'll get your chance, the unknown is just clearing the asteroid belt and energy readings are beginning to spike. Reading other thermal emissions as well, they may have survived the impact but it did do serious damage." Kaiden offered who had taken a position in the seat next to Joker to help him with the auxiliary systems.

Sophia looked at the situation and knew immediately that the hostile had the high ground and there was no way that lighter ship was going to survive going against the massive turreted vessel. "Joker, engage the hostile, target anything that might get their attention."

"Commander are you nuts?"

"Joker, we need that unknown intact. With any luck, we can get intel on these hostiles and perhaps find out why in the hell they are working with Saren. We just need to keep them interested."

"I'll see what I can do, hold onto something I might need to draw some power off the momentum dampers. This could get interesting." The Normandy made a sharp banking turn and rocketed towards the aft section of the large 'dreadnought' all the while firing its mass accelerator at the engines. While the rounds hit home, there was minimal damage done to the vessel, the Normandy was a reconnaissance frigate not a ship of the line. As they closed within the engine wake, Joker dove the ship down, just missing a collision as they streaked along the underside.

"Watch those turrets." Sophia cringed as she had taken a seat and braced herself, true to his word, the momentum dampers were doing their best but just couldn't keep up as the pilot was pushing the vessel to the limit of its design.

"I'm going to feel this tomorrow," Joker cringed as he peeled away from the ship, narrowly missing getting hit by an arc of red energy that went by just to the right and a large round that passed overhead.

"Back at it Lieutenant, the unknown is breaking off, we need to buy them time to withdraw."

"On it," Joker said, pulling a wide banking turn and came back to harry the enemy vessel. In the distance they could see that the unknown vessel had stopped.

"What the hell are they doing?" Sophia asked, but her question was answered as multiple sensors began going off and Lieutenant Alenko checked the systems.

"Ma'am, we're picking up a massive energy buildup from the unknown and that quantum effect has returned." As he was speaking, Sophia looked out the window where she could pick up the unknown vessel visually as they streaked past the hostile again. A strange portal appeared in front of the ship, expanded to its dimensions and then seemed to move over the ship and it was gone.

"C…commander?" Joker said in a wary tone, affirming what she had seen. Everything she knew told her that this was impossible, but her eyes defied that logic. The vessel had just disappeared, solid proof that the ships were using a vastly different way of travelling the stars, a different FTL.

"Ma'am, similar effect is forming on the hostile, just with lower power outputs." Kaiden advised, to which Joker brought the ship around to see it do pretty much the same thing as the unknown. Not a word was spoken for what it seemed like an eternity, everyone staring out the front windows as if this was some sort of deception and if they looked close enough it would reappear.

"There's no other ships in the area, looks like the unknown was their objective." Sophia said as she turned around and noticed that Ashley was still back in the CIC and casually looking at the galaxy map. In fact, despite everyone in the CIC knowing what had happened, she was strangely silent and collected.

"Shaana," Ashley said and gave Sophia a crisp salute, turning around to face her commander.

"So Williams, you want to tell me how you're handling this so well. I mean everyone else seems to be unnerved but you never even bothered to take a look." Sophia watched as the marine's eyes darted around the room, they seemed a little different than before. What did that beacon do to her?

"Ailkaa noveema markaas," the marine stated. Sophia wished she could understand this language, making her wonder if the beacon had not exploded would they be running into the same problems.

"That's nice chief, but it doesn't help me one bit. Let me try it this way. Does this new FTL frighten you?"

"Teelna," the marine shook her head.

"I'm guessing that means no?"

"Maavir," Ashely said, nodding her head in the affirmative.

"So, teelna is yes and maavir is no?" The marine gave her a thumbs up, well at least she now knew two Prothean words. Then she had a thought, something she can't believe she didn't think of before. Perhaps this language was not Prothean after all, if this new form of FTL gave her no concern then it must have to do with the foreign tech that was found in the beacon. Perhaps this language belonged to them and not to the Protheans.

"So Williams, have you seen this FTL before?" Sophia watched as Ashely seemed to be in thought for a moment.

"Maavir. Raav'jas Sajuuk."

"Okay, charades it is. Maavir is yes, what is raav'jas Sajuuk?" Sophia asked and watched Ashley beginning to act something out, she seemed to be pounding with a something on the railing. "Strike, impact, hit…" Sophia began and saw that Ashely shook her head as she pointed to herself and performed the same action. "Striking, working, worker…" Ashley put her hands in front of her to say she was getting close. "Worker, builder," Ashley stopped her again and referred to the CIC until Sophia got what she was saying. "Dock worker? Ship contractor? Ship builder?" Ashely rotated her hand to keep giving permeations until she stumbled upon it. "Shipwright. Okay and what is a Sajuuk?"

Ashely spoke up, pointing at herself. "Ashley," she then pointed to her. "Sophia," she then said the phrase again. "Raav'jas Sajuuk."

"So, you have seen this before? Shipwright Sajuuk?" Ashely nodded her head, but Sophia had no idea what it meant. Well she had some idea, clearly there was more than just something from the Protheans in her head. She had some sort of recollection of this through the beacon, somehow connected to this shipwright Sajuuk.

"Commander, we just picked up a distress call from our colony on Feros. Apparently they are under attack from both 'mercs' and geth, recommend we head that way and deal with this possible Cerberus base, whatever that is?" Joker's voice came over the PA.

"Understood Joker, head to Feros, we'll deal with the three headed dog later." Sophia said and looked over at Ashely. "I don't know what we are going to deal with on the colony, but something tells me you'll be eager to settle a score with the geth." Sophia watched as she gave a nod in the affirmative.

"Maavir shaana," Ashely said, giving a salute and heading back down to the hangar bay.

"Yes ma'am," Sophia said to herself, that's what it must mean. Well, she learned a few new words today, perhaps they would eventually be able to translate what Ashley was speaking. Things were looking up for her.

* * *

Anya gritted in pain as the escape pod impacted against the ground and she was mercilessly thrown against her restraints. She wasn't sure what she had done to the great maker that now he was taking the sadistic pleasure in kicking the shit out of her like an overly assertive combat instructor but she was getting her fill. The 'landing' would have been bad enough, but the injury made it even worse. As the pod finally ground to a halt, she slowly eased her grip off of the restraint handles and did her best to gain her bearings.

Looking out the front viewscreen, she could see that the planet was not habitable but at least there must be some sort of exploration team here, she didn't know what manner of aliens she would encounter in such a distant galaxy, but history told her something about alien motivations. Releasing the harness, she retrieved her helmet and donned it before opening a suit repair kit and winced as she secured the metal bandings with a snap around her wounds to protect it from the elements as the planet was on Hiigara-normal. Taking her weapons out of the locker, she secured the sidearm on her hip and took the field pack from the locker and made sure that it had all the key survival equipment she would need. Finally she picked up her V445 rifle and opened the hatch of the pod, heading out onto the alien world on an alien planet in an alien galaxy.

Anya began to check her surroundings, she could see that she was in some sort of geologic depression, perhaps from a long-extinct volcano. She then activated the magnification feature on her helmet's visor as something seemed off with the distant rock formation. At four times magnification it looked man-made, and at ten times navigation she could see that it was a ground vehicle and not a rock formation. Half of which was buried in the ground, making it stick up in the air.

That was when she felt the rumble, at first she assumed it was seismic activity, but when it got closer she realized that was no tremor. There was some sort of biologic out there, something very big and given her state it was not something she was willing to face. Clearing out the magnification, she began moving as fast as she could towards the edge of the bowl she was in, going for the sturdier rock formation. That was the plan anyways, but that plan changed when she felt the ground beneath her suddenly rise and she was thrown into the air and laying on her back, she looked up at the terrifying creature. It was a massive serpent of sorts which made an equally horrifying screeching sound.

Anya frantically clawed on the ground until she found her rifle and began firing up at the creature, firing round after round at any place that looked vulnerable. The creature reared back its terrifying head and she decided that this was one place she did not want to be. She made it up to her feet and began running, the pain of her leg was overridden by her self-preservation instinct. She probably would have died right then and there, had not the report of other weapons echoed through the air and looked up to see several large vehicles on the ridge. This seemed to be enough to drive the enemy back underground.

One of the vehicles approached near the edge of the bowl, while she made her walk to meet up with them. The vehicle was white with some sort of black and gold emblem on the side, the same could be said for the armor that the soldiers wore. Their weapons looked odd, of similar size to that of her rifle as they approached her, they began speaking at her in a strange tongue and as she got close they had leveled their weapons at her.

Anya looked at the group, and seeing that they were clearly hostile she evaluated them. Six soldiers with weapons at high ready, she needed something to even the odds but nothing came to mind until one of the soldiers approached her and yanked her rifle from her hands. She didn't think about it, but merely reacted as she flowed around the soldier and put her arm around his neck and unholstered her pistol, effectively using him as a human shield.

What she was not expecting was how the soldiers had casually opened fire on their comrade, who fell to the ground, leaving her exposed. Suddenly, a strange aura of blue energy emanated from one of the soldiers that manifested as a sphere that came in her direction and threw her to the ground. When she tried to lift her pistol up that she was still holding onto, she felt a powerful surge of electrical energy surge through her body before everything went dark.

* * *

Ashely checked her gear, and then checked it again. They were gearing up to hit the geth who attacked a human colony, and why wouldn't they? Eden Prime proved that they could hit human colonies with impunity and the Alliance had very little response to such attacks. That was going to change right here and now, they would repel this attack and make the geth believe that such attacks would be extremely costly from now on.

"I guess we're going to be on mission together." The voice belonged to the ship's turian, Garrus. Ashley didn't like hearing that, she was hoping she would be doing this with the commander and Alenko, at least she knew what to expect with Alliance soldiers. These weren't Alliance, and as such there could be confusion in a firefight, confusion that could get people killed.

"Seems kind of strange, doesn't it." Garrus said to her as he secured his weapons from his locker and moved next to her at the weapons bench where he went over them, similar to what she was doing. "I mean, without you being to communicate, it might introduce additional risk."

Ashely was shocked at this, of course it made perfect sense. In reality, she was now more alien than the aliens on the ship, they could understand each other even though the aliens and the commander didn't even have the same DNA and here she was of the same species and she might as well be from Mars, or was it Venus?

"Don't worry chief, I've studied Alliance tactics, protocols and signalling extensively."

Ashely nodded her head, at least the commander was not sending in the aliens without teaching them the Alliance basics and not sending them in unproven and untrained. Now where was her sight adjustment tool? Looking over she could see that the turian was holding it out for her, like he knew what she was looking for. That was a little creepy. Come to think of it, it was a little creepy how they had serviced the weapons together without saying a word. Perhaps this would work, they would know by the end of this mission.

"So how are we looking, chief?" The voice belonged to the CO of the ship, who repeated the same procedure as Ashley and Garrus had just performed and readied their weapons.

Ashley gave Sophia a nod as she finally set the sights how she wanted them. "I think the chief is fine, she seems pretty certain that she can match me for kills on the battlefield."

"Hey now Garrus, she is Alliance and I don't bet against the home team. Besides, I've seen her shoot, and I think you're going to have your work cut out backing that claim."

"Maybe commander, but would she look this good doing it?" Garrus said, getting a laugh from Ashley.

"Okay, I'll make you a deal," Sophia began. "You do better than the chief, and she has to take you on a hot date, she wins and you have to take her on a hot date." This comment was treated with a slap at the back of the head.

"What the hell Williams?" Sophia asked, looking at the scowling face.

"Something tells me that Ash didn't think it was too funny."

"Ash? Did you just call her Ash?" Sophia said, stopping her work to look at the two. "For two people who are not interested…never mind. Hey Joker, how far out are we?"

"Five minutes commander."

"Understood, we're on our way up." Sophia said as she left with her prepped shotgun.

"All right Ash, let's get this done. Every second that Saren is drawing breath, it is a black mark on my people's name. I intend to erase that blot as soon as possible." Ashley was surprised at this confession, sure he had said something similar before but she always felt it was a little rehearsed. The only other person here was Wrex and he wouldn't really care. No, this was not for an audience, it was from the heart and it made her believe Garrus wanted the one responsible for Eden Prime dead as much as she did. Well, almost as much as she did.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Anya began to sir slowly, ever joint felt like it had been struck with a hammer and her head was throbbing, as she opened her eyes she was relieved that wherever she was the lights were at a reduced setting. As she slowly lifted her head, she could see that she was in a small room of sorts. There were two beds in the room against opposite walls and a small sink at the opposite end of the room as the door. As she slowly sat up, she could see that she was not in her armor anymore but some sort of civilian attire, it was a basic white and black dress with that same odd logo on the upper sleeves. Standing up, she could see that she was wearing some basic flat soled boots, military style if she could guess. This place began to give off the feel of a military facility, something that gave her some concern.

Her attention was turned towards the door and a pair of soldiers in strange armor entered after the door made a strange chime and hiss, they were dragging a man along in some sort of restraint holding his wrists together in front of him. The man was wearing a blue uniform and based on the insignias and the gray beard with weathered lines, he was a man of rank. This must be some sort of POW camp, she thought as they looked at her and spoke a strange tongue, the same as the one spoken when she was captured.

Anya just looked at them, even if she could communicate with these aliens they were in for a rude awakening if they thought that they thought she would tell them anything to an outsider, especially given the circumstances of her arrival. One of them finally shook his head and pointed to her leg, and to Anya's surprise she realized that it wasn't giving her nearly as much pain. She felt a little embarrassed to have to do so, but she lifted up the hem of the dress to the lower wound by her knee, doing her best to preserve her modesty. There was no way in all of Sajuuk's constructs that she would hike it up to the upper injury.

Surprised, she could see a fresh bandage over the wound, and as she lightly touched the area around the wound, she found that it seemed to be healing faster than normal. Whatever they had done, it was working marvellously as she began to realize that this injury should have put her down for much longer but as it was, she might even be able to walk on it. "Thank-you," Anya said, at least giving these outsiders the civility due to someone treating their prisoners with civility, well some of their prisoners.

The soldiers gave her an odd stare before they left the room, and audible click made it apparent that she would not be leaving this room until they decided to let her out. Slowly standing up, she could still feel that the leg was very much tender and so put most of the weight on her left foot. Limping over to the alien in the other bed, she wanted to see if he was alright, the soldiers had treated him rather roughly. As she got close, she could see that his face had several fresh cuts. Looking around, she limped over to the basic sink and found a tower that she moistened and made it back to the man, cleaning the cuts as best as she could. Finishing up with the last one, she returned the towel back to the sink and returned with a cup of water from the faucet, as the man was slowly starting to sir.

Anya knelt down and cupped the back of his head, helping him with the glass as his hands were still restrained. The man rasped that odd language, it sounded sharp and almost harsh to her ears almost like the Taiidani language in its sharp consonants but not. The recurring similar sounds made it clear that it was a simple language with a simple alphabet. Most likely an infant race, even more so than her own people. As she had no way of communicating with this elder person, she just smiled reassuringly at him.

Finally the man made what sounded like a chuckle and spoke in that strange dialect while pointing to himself with his bound hands. "Diego Kahoku."

Anya returned the gesture and pointed to herself. "Anya S'jet."

The man repeated, getting a laugh from her, the man had butchered the pronunciation worse than a deaf Turanic Raider. "Aun-yaah Seh sheyt."

The man tried again, and while not perfect it was much better but his vowels needed work. With an accent like that, if it came to teaching these people Kushan-la it would take a lot effort on her part. She noticed again that the man had pointed to himself once again.

"Diego Kahoku, Human."

"Anya S'jet, Hiigaran," this response was clearly not something he expected and seemed to jolt at this. The continued to talk back and forth, each teaching the other basic words using the furniture in this room. Finally she had to know who these people were, and indicated by the strange symbol on the clothes she was wearing.

"Cerberus," the man said replied. With that being said, the door opened and the guards had returned. They gave her a look that did not need to be interpreted, she left the older man's side and walked out of the room with the guards following close behind. She was lead into another room where there was a table with a pair of chairs. An older man was sitting at one chair, gray hair could be seen at his temples and the way he sat there with something in his right hand that he seemed to inhale and then blow smoke out of and those unnatural eyes unsettled her.

Taking her seat, she was forced to stare into those eyes while he continued to talk, she didn't understand a word that he said but she would allow him to talk. It was clear that he enjoyed it immensely and it told her much about him, he was arrogant and the way that he looked at her she knew that he thought he could get to her. Eventually the man stopped talking, and Anya just sat there for a moment with a confused look on her face before a younger man whispered something in his ear.

"Anya S'jet," the man said, confirming her suspicions that the room was monitored but she was still impressed that he seemed to say her name almost right. The man then pointed to himself, "Illusive man," the then extended out his hand in midair and looked at her. Anya did not know what this meant, the only time her people did similar greetings was the clasping of forearms but that was only between members of the same Kiith. Anya nodded her head, and was completely shocked when he reached for her hand and clasped it in an up and down motion.

"Not with outsiders," Anya retorted as she pulled back her hand from his grip. Yes, is Illusive Man was arrogant indeed.

* * *

"Plant my ass." Ashley gritted as she opened up on another group of creatures that attacked them while they were trying to kill this Thorian creature. She much preferred plowing through the geth in that Exo Geni headquarters and listening as that geth ship crashed to the surface after the commander had severed one of the latch points. Part of her wished that she would have just double tapped that Jeong guy, but no one was perfect so he was still alive. But these things, they just made her skin crawl, and the fact that they seemed to be able to take a full burst to the chest and still come at you was unnerving and reminded her of those old zombie flicks, even more so than the converted colonists on…Eden Prime a name she wished she never heard.

"That's another green broad down, you're falling behind, Williams." Garrus had said to her, snapping her out of her thoughts. Taking out a grenade rigged with the anti-Thorian gas, she lobbed it at a distant large group.

"That doesn't count, shots only."

"What are you bitchin' about, you could have kept the grenades if we hadn't found out that you have the arm of an Edmonton Eskimo." Ashley laughed at that one, she found out from the lieutenant that Sophia followed the NAU Football Leauge and the Calgary Stampeders were her religion. So what she told Garrus was not a compliment, but given the way that Alliance grenades had to be thrown in comparison to Turian grenades, she understood why he shanked his first toss so bad, resulting in Ashley getting the rest of the grenades.

"Commander, I have no idea what an Edmonton Eskimo is." Garrus said, opening up with his assault rifle at some more attacking creepers.

"The worst franchise in the history of professional sports, but they make my boys feel good about themselves every time. Hold on, this table dancer is mine." Sophia said, getting out of the way of another asari clone's ball of biotic energy and sending her back with a shotgun blast in the chest.

The three of them walked up to the last tendril and opened up on it, when it finally released, the Thorian made one last wail before dropping down into the chasm bringing it to an end. They were about to leave when an asari came out of one of those strange pods on the wall, but this one was the regular blue instead of the green that the other ones were.

"I'm free! I guess I should thank you for rescuing me." The asari addressed this to Shepard, the two of them talking for a bit while Ashely walked over to the ledge and peered over. It has to be dead, but that didn't stop the chill that still ran down her spine and the pure unadulterated creepiness of that creature. 'This could be…problematic.' Ashley remembered the commander's words, realizing she was the master of understatement.

"Williams, whenever you're ready," the words of the commander caused her to turn around where the asari and the commander were standing.

"Ashley is it? I hear you had contact with the beacon, as I was explaining to the commander, in order to understand the Prothean vision, you need to have this cipher. I am ready to transfer it from my mind to yours."

"Oh hell no!" Ashley said, glad that she stepped away from the edge or the shock would have caused her to meet the same fate as the Thorian.

The asari looked over at the commander and was speechless before speaking up again. "Commander, what language is she speaking?"

"I'm gessing its not Prothean." The commander said, looking back at Ashley.

"No, it is not. Not even close."

"Ash, you know as well as we do how screwed we are without knowing what Saren was after. This might help us find out where he is and put a stop to it."

Ashley knew she really didn't have much choice, and given how much sleepless nights she was getting a little mind screw from an asari couldn't make it any worse, could it. Besides, there was no way the commander would just let this go, it was an order without being an order. Finally Ashley relented and approached the asari, she began saying some words that she expected to find in some eastern religious tract and almost snorted at such mumbo-jumbo. Suddenly, the asari's eyes went black and those visions came back, but they seemed clearer if still as jarring. Then there was something else, she was standing in a vast hall with strange aliens she had never seen before. They almost resembled some sort of upright raptoral creature, similar in size to a turian but the head structure was more bird like, almost like a dinosaur, it was hard to pinpoint. These thoughts were rushing through her head as one of them spoke.

"Respected lords of the Valetian High Guardianship, while the new drive has proven successful it cannot reach its full potential in us. Our DNA is too rigid and not nearly as adaptable, we can use it but not as effective without some form of biological direct interface."

"What do you suggest, Shipwright Sajuuk?"

"We need to make preparations, preserve ourselves until we can find a race that can be modified for this specific purpose."

"What about our enemy?"

"They seem content to remain only in the sectors where they have established their gates. I will establish a remote facility here so when our sensors detect a race that meets our needs we can begin the necessary modifications."

"What about or enemy, they will not allow our work to go unchecked. Their survival depends on maintaining the pattern."

"The new drive will allow us to transport the modified race to a distant group of stars, far from the watchful eye of the enemy," the one called Sajuuk said, magnifying a map of another galaxy.

"What about bringing back the people once they are ready?"

"We are constructing a gate near the core, when we arrive in the target system I will construct another gate. When the race is ready, the portal will open and we will bring our enemy low."

The vision ended after that, Ashley needing to be braced by Garrus as she nearly fell over and Shepard having to do something similar for the asari. "That…that didn't happen before."

"Shiala are you all right?" Shepard asked the asari.

"I..I think so, I transferred the cipher like I did with Saren, but I saw something I did not see before. An unknown species speaking that tongue that your friend Ashely is speaking, they were looking at an image of a galaxy. I think this goes far beyond the Protheans, commander."

The four of them made it slowly out of the subterranean passageways and reached the outside, Ashely gritting against the bright sunlight as her old headache had returned. Stupid asari bimbo. Shepard was talking with a few more people as Garrus helped Ashley back to the Normandy, she wanted to curl up into a little ball and shut off the world for the next few hours. She understood what those people were saying, well she understood their words but there was something else that kept repeating in her head. 22543, 331, 10411.

* * *

Hiirel knew when a battle was won by skill and when he had ended up getting very lucky, this was far more the latter than the former. Things had spiraled out of control from the moment they brought that data module on board, they still had no idea what is was and the only end result was an explosion that drew the attention of the Taiidan. Then there was the plan of boarding a disabled frigate when he still had not secured the area, a foolish decision that could quite possibly have cost his XO her very life as the limited oxygen on those escape pods would have run out by now.

All this paled in comparison to getting jumped by that large task force, and while he thought he had the advantage at first, the Taiidani had only done so to draw him out so that the big guns of their heavy cruiser could take him out. They nearly succeeded, only having averted disaster when that unknown frigate began opening fire on the heavy cruiser, drawing the attention of the gunners long enough for them to initiate an emergency hyperspace jump.

"Sir, our probes have finished the scan of the system and it looks like we're in the clear."

"Very good, bring us into the nearby dust cloud and begin repairs." Hiirel looked at the extent of the battle damage. While most of the hull damage should be relatively easy to repair, they had taken hits to certain systems that were not something the repair drones could deal with. The sensors array had taken a couple serious hits and as a result they had a few dark spots that they were trying to supplement with sensors drones. The worst part was the ion array suffered damage from a kinetic round that had shattered the intricate lattice structure had rendered the weapon inoperable. It was then that he noticed that the chief of the boat stood up beside him.

"Captain," the man began in a respectful tone. "Some of the men have voiced concerns over the last attack, they were under the impression that our orders were to gather intel on the enemy and not engage them single-handed."

Hiirel knew really what the chief was saying, he had taken foolish gambles as if there was a whole fleet behind him. He had also made the mistake of underestimating his enemy. Their ships may be aged, and their power base in the home systems reduced, but the Taiidan were not out of the fight and this latest battle had proved it. He had gone into this fight believing that he had every possible advantage over his enemy and this would be a simple matter of sweeping them to the side. Yet once again the reality of war brought all these notions crashing down.

"Relax chief, we over-extended and tested the limits of this ship. We will be playing it much safer from now on, relying more on observation and not on pursuing the enemy." As much as he wanted to just charge into battle and bring this threat to an end, he was just too outmatched. So he would gather what he could, and as soon as they found another slipgate, they would return with a fleet and end this. The officer left Hiirel alone as he took his seat and stared at the long range nav map.

"Rodam Elson, what are you up to?"

* * *

"So commander, now that the chief has the cipher should I perhaps meld with her and find out what information she has learned?"

"Liara, I don't know why you are so adamant, the answer is still no. Look what happened with Shiala, I'm not ready to expose you to that level of risk. Besides, the chief is resting and I want her to recover from the last event." Sophia could see in the marine's eyes as they had left the colony that she was exhausted and it wasn't just a short term exhaustion that simple bedrest would solve. There was something deeper that was bothering her, and it was wearing her down.

"Shepard, what exactly did we find out?"

"Kaiden, I am certain that the beacon has something to do with those new ships that had shown up recently." Sophia looked at the group seated with a stern look across her face, making the seriousness of what she was about to say evident. "What I am about to tell you must never leave this room, even the council will not be privy to this."

"Commander, you are a council spectre, you have to report to the council."

"Garrus, the council does not want to hear this and it would very likely cause more turmoil in a galaxy that does not need more with the geth going active and Saren running roughshod through the Traverse. While the beacon gave Ashley some sort of Prothean vision, as far as what Shiala told me, she received something else. Something that Saren obviously does not have. When we verified that those ships were using an FTL that is not based on Mass Effect technology, I noticed that Ashley was not the least phased by this. Through a little trial and error and some other means, I was able to determine that she is familiar with this technology. It has something to do with someone called Shipwright Sajuuk. I'm not sure what this all means, but we're keeping this under wraps. Crew dismissed."

"Feros mission report is away, would you like me to patch you into the council?"

"Go ahead, Joker," Sophia waited until everyone cleared out and the holographic projections of the three councillors appeared.

"Commander, ExoGeni should have told us about the Thorian, it would have made your mission much easier, but at least you saved the colony." Tevos began the meeting with an affirmation of her work.

"Of course she saved the colony, Shepard would go to any lengths to save a human colony." Well, she couldn't have yin without yang, Sparatus clearly looking to find faults in her work.

"I helped the colony because it was in trouble, it being human had more to do with apparently human colonies are considered in the eyes of the Council as acceptable losses."

"Shepard, I've warned you about that tone."

"So tell me, what happens when the Council fails to live up to its signed upon agreements? Oh that's right, there is no recourse as the Council only abides by treaties when it suits them."

"You're not helping your cause with comments like that, commander." Tevos warned, taking the side of the turian councillor.

Sophia shook her head, she might have been out of line, but the turian's antagonism was starting to grate her nerves. "Look, I secured the colony, eliminated the geth threat and destroyed the organism that was trying to subvert the colony. Mission accomplished."

"Commander, you are not here to criticize our leadership or invent new mission profiles. Your task is to apprehend Saren and deal with his forces." Valern offered, being the neutral voice in the meeting.

"Right, now how exactly do you expect me to do so without any actionable intel? Every planet I drop onto turns out to be a geth ambush, I have Alliance obligations I am still tied to and all the while I have several trillion tonnes of Taiidan warships bearing down on me. Your neat little plans and dossiers may seem fine from your lavish offices in the Citadel Tower, but out here in the void it gets a little more complex." Sophia closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, "my apologies councillors, I was out of line. Look, I will endeavor to keep the mission much closer to your recommendations and to that end I will be tracking down a lead on Benezia which will hopefully lead me to Saren. Shepard out."

Sophia ended the call abruptly and left the comm room, sure it may ruffle some feathers but it was better than her really flying off the handle and giving her a piece of her mind. Not to mention the stress of having to filter information in order to protect Ashely, and dealing with what she saw as an alien invasion of Alliance space single-handedly was all taking its toll. She was not a ship captain in the traditional sense, she was a ground operator and preferred leaving the command of starships in the hands of people like Hackett or even her own mother.

"Joker, get us back to Nephron, I want to at least tie up one loose end before Sparatus pulls on my choke chain again." Heading down to the mess, she could see Kaiden taking some painkillers and sitting there eating his lunch.

"Commander, care to take a load off?"

"Sure thing, LT. Something on your mind?" Sophia asked as she poured herself a cup of coffee and took a sip, her face scrunching at the terrible taste.

"Not the best brew?"

"LT, I am convinced that when they designed this recon frigate someone had the bright idea that the food and the coffee had to be reminiscent of the crap they served on U-boats."

"Now commander, we both know that there is an unwritten law about some things never changing. Death, taxes, and military swill."

Sophia smiled at this as she put the mug down and had a seat. "You must be career military."

"Yeah, you know how it is with biotics."

"Tell me about it, if big brother is watching I might as well get a paycheque out of the deal."

"Really commander? From what I've heard you were born on an Alliance frigate and spent most of your times on boats."

"Yeah, mom was on the SSV Bunker Hill and they were enroute to Arcturus where she was going to take mat leave for her last few weeks and BAM! Goes into labor right there, delivery right in engineering."

"I heard about that, some figure the defective shielding that got missed by the sensors is the reason you developed biotics."

"Mom worked as a lieutenant in engineering, everyone got bathed with low level exposure to element zero. Theory is that's why I manifested stronger than most, something about lower intensity with higher duration. Anyway, you wanted to talk?"

"Something's not right with this whole situation, we're behind you one hundred percent but the crew is pissed about the stonewalling were getting, especially on 'our side'. You would think that a group around as long as the council would see this coming a million LY away."

"They've become complacent like any government and we're throwing in so many unknowns that they don't know what to do. I can think of countless Earth governments that did the same thing, I would call it 'human nature', but…"

The continued talking for a while, Sophia was surprised that the Lieutenant was willing to talk about these things but it was nice to get to know her crew and what they were passionate about. That was something that her mother taught her, a crew that is connected like a family fights far better than a group of strangers. Eventually Sophia stifled a yawn and realized they had been talking for a good hour.

"Well, get some sleep, LT. We'll be in orbit over Nepheron in the next few hours. I'll be going planetside with you and Wrex." Sophia stood up, dumped the contents of her mug in the sink and put the mug in the washing rack before returning to her quarters, an officer's paperwork was never done.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"So Shepard, what are we expecting here?" Garrus asked as the three of them gathered in the hangar bay for the commander to brief them on the situation.

"Reports say that this is a black-ops group that has gone off the reservation, they're calling themselves Cerberus. Intel is a little dicey but the rumor is that these people may be tied Admiral Kahoku's disappearance. Deep scan radar says that this is a modified underground facility with at least two possible locations for holding cells." Sophia was going over the briefing while she checked her shotgun, this was going to be a close quarters engagement so she made sure that she had at least one other person that excelled in that field.

"What kind of threat are we to be expecting?" Wrex rumbled as he leaned against the Mako in that calm immutable manner that only a Krogan battlemaster could pull off, a look that said he had been everywhere and seen everything.

"Approaching the facility we can expect fixed positions as well as snipers in guard turrets and most likely anit-armor assets. Inside you can expect some very well equipped and trained soldiers. As they are ex-Alliance you can expect biotics but probably not as formidable as you have faced in the past, Wrex. Human biotics are limited and will most likely compensate with combat engineers and defense drones, so don't let them swarm you. We'll keep this simple when we get inside, bounding advance and if they come at us in numbers we will try and force them into a bottleneck.

Wrex and I will concentrate on weakening the OPFOR with biotics and Garrus will lay down a base of fire with his assault rifle and then we'll finish off any that get in close with shotgun blasts. Make no mistake, we're not facing second rate mercs or geth here, expect the unexpected and every nasty trick in the book you can think of." Sophia did her best to prepare her squad for the attack but the truth of the matter was that they had very little to go on, so she was basing the enemy's defense on what she would do if she was defending the place.

"Understood, now about the vehicle," Garrus said, looking over at the Mako.

"Right, this is how we will play it, standard three man panzer setup. I'll direct from the commander's position while Wrex mans the turret and Garrus drives. While the Mako can take some hits, the swing axle suspension is the Achilles' heel of the design. We keep on the move and do our damndest not to let them get a bead on us. Wrex, this means that you're going to have to be ready for some very rapid turret traverses. Target any fixed emplacements followed by any tank hunters. Questions?" Sophia asked as she looked at the pair, she had no doubt on their abilities but the question nagged at what was the skill of their opponents.

"Just one, what is a tank?"

"Sorry Garrus, human nickname for armored vehicles. I'll explain later. Saddle up," Sophia said as the trio poured into the wheeled tank. Sophia looked over to see that Ashley had taken up post to operate the hangar door controls and gave her a quick salute. "Don't worry marine, we're going to fix this," Sophia said as she stepped in the side and secured the hatch.

Sophia made her way to the commander's seat at the front, slipping past Wrex who somehow had contorted himself into the gunner's copula, clearly designed for a human, but the hulking alien seemed to make it work. As she made it to the front, Sophia squeezed down the narrow aisle that was flanked on both sides with sophisticated equipment which allowed the Mako to evade most IR and RADAR missile fire. She gently slipped into the commander's left seat while Garrus was sitting in the driver's seat to the right. The massive powerplant of the tank was in front of them, which required them to mostly see through the use of optics as opposed to actual viewscreens.

"This will take some getting used to, never driven an armored vehicle with the engine in the front before." Garrus commented as the whir of systems coming online was heard along with the normal startup chimes.

"Well, you can thank the Israelis for that one."

"That a group on your planet?"

"Yeah, back in the 20th, they designed a tank...um armored vehicle called the Merkava. First real combat vehicle with the engine in front, the design worked exceptionally well and so when a replacement vehicle for the Grizzly was needed, someone dusted off that design concept."

"Commander, I'm reading that systems are powered up and we're ready to roll out once we land."

Sophia looked over at Garrus with a wicked grin, "Garrus, did you happen to notice how this vehicle has a vertically aligned Mass Effect core?"

"Yes commander, I did. Seemed a little strange for a vehicle that moves laterally, why do you ask."

"Garrus, you're about to learn what is meant by the human expression, 'feet first into hell'." Sophia opened her communicator and tapped her earpiece. "Joker, are we set?"

"Thirty seconds to insertion," the pilot responded.

"Good, tell Williams to kick the door," Sophia entered a few commands, allowing her to use the dual controls that were available to the driver and commander. She expertly realigned the Mako so that it was facing the right direction to the opening hangar door. The open hangar gave the view of a rapidly approaching planet's surface. As they got within five hundred feet of the planet's surface, the ship pulled up to level as Sophia put her right gloved hand on the central power lever and pushed it all the way forward, the rubber tires squealing on the deck plating.

"Spirits!" was all that Garrus cried out as the vehicle launched from the open hangar bay and descended to the planet's surface, the thrusters kicking in at the right moment that arrested their descent rate to within the tolerances of the vehicle and shuddered as the suspension took the load and they came to a stop on the planet.

"Like I said before Shepard, you've got a quad." Wrex laughed, clearly enjoying the moment.

"Didn't feel like telling me that ahead of time? I hope you're happy with yourself, commander."

"Immensely," Sophia said, grinning from ear to ear.

"To think that I took a leave from C-Sec for this," Garrus grumbled as he took over driving from Sophia towards the nav point.

Sophia was just monitoring, when she picked up something on her scanners. "Hold up Garrus, make right twenty degrees and continue for two point five clicks. Picking up some sort of structure that is not part of the normal complex, I want to check it out."

The Mako changed directions and came over the ridge, looking down at a large bowl like depression in the terrain. In this 'bowl' there was a prefab off to one side, a wrecked exploration crawler and something else that could not be identified but based on the scar on the terrain, it was a recent arrival.

"Looks like a dead end, that's a Thresher nest if ever I saw one," Wrex spoke up.

"What's the matter Wrex? Afraid of a little worm?" Sophia said as she began to contemplate her next move.

"Shepard, I like a good fight as much as the next, but I prefer fights where I walk out of it alive."

"Look, that pod might have actionable intel. Trust in the Shepard, the Shepard is good," Sophia said with a wink, disappointed that neither got the reference. "Punch it, Garrus."

* * *

Anya was once again in the room with the man with the strange eyes, they were trying to get a rudimentary understanding with her language but in spite of understanding them she played along as if she didn't know what they were asking her. The questions were rather simple, they wanted to know where she came from and how many of her kind there was.

"Show Hiigara," the man said, once again pointing to a large map of the galaxy but it was clear that his patience was running out, the man got out of his chair and spouted a long string of words at her before he ran one hand through his hair and then slammed his fist down on the table. Time to change tactics, he was starting to see through her ruse and she didn't want to provoke him too much, a little misdirection would be appropriate right about now.

Looking over the large star map she took a careful look at it as she ran her hands over the surface looking for where it would be viable for a habitable planet to be located. The trouble with this, was that she had no idea what was explored space in this galaxy and if she picked wrong she knew the frustrated man could lash out at her. Whatever happened she would not tell him what he needed to hear and so she looked at the map one more time and picked a cluster of stars that she thought would be believable. Tapping the location with her index finger, she spoke up. "Hiigara."

Given his age, she wasn't expecting the strike. The backhand set her sprawling to the floor, feeling the burn on the side of her face she knew right away that she had picked wrong. She was lifted roughly to her feet by one of the guards as the man came up to her with a furious rage in his eyes. He said something to one of the guards who then gave this 'Illusive Man' his sidearm. The man stormed up to her and pressed the barrel against the side of her head.

Anya thought she would be terrified, but her training immediately kicked in, the man needed her alive, this was just a threat but it was still a loaded gun, something she could use. She didn't fight against the guard that was holding her up under her arms, and could feel his grip lessen and she was not resisting.

"Show! Now!" The man yelled, his face inches from hers. The humidity and smell of his breath was wafted onto her face he was so close, there was something bitter smelling about his breath. At the opportune moment, she reeled her head back and crashed her forehead into the bridge of his nose while both hearing and feeling his cartilage give way. At the same time, she directed the pistol at the ground to her guard's right foot and forced the Illusive Man's finger down on the trigger. Her guard cried out as he released her.

She now understood how the collapsible weapons worked after seeing how the other guard had given the weapon to the Illusive Man. Reeling around the injured guard, she wrapped the crook of her arm around the guard's neck with her left arm while her right hand released the guard's pistol from his holster. Anya felt the guard's body jerk as the second guard in the room opened up on her human shield, peppering him with bullets. Anya wasted no time in returning fire as an alarm began blaring in the room as the Illusive Man wrenched open the door and began to flee.

Sprinting to the doorway, she fired at the coward and he fell to the ground clearly being hit in the shoulder. Before she could finish him off, more guards poured into the hallway and Anya was once again forced into the room under a hail of bullets. Kicking over the table, she took the pair of rifles of the now dead guards, setting one to the side she expanded the other in a similar fashion to that of the pistol. These weapons were far more advanced than anything her people fielded, they were light, compact, and extremely powerful.

The first two guards came into the room and Anya opened up on them and to her surprise it took more than she thought to take them down, at first a strange blue sphere surrounded them before the rounds impacted into their armor. Shielding technology?

Perhaps she had miscalculated, she would not be able to take on a large contingent of armored and shielded soldiers. If she could somehow make it back to the holding cell, the old man there might be able to help her but she had to get to him before she got pinned down. Making her way to the door, she could hear that they had taken position just down the corridor, and she needed a distraction. Looking back at the guards she found what she was looking for, some strange disc object with a depressible upper surface. Picking up the strange silver object, she was certain at its use, some things translated well enough. She depressed the button and began to hear a repeating chime that grew closer in intervals and after a few seconds threw the device laterally, the resulting explosion created a mighty grey cloud and a terrific noise. Anya used this distraction and made down the corridor in the opposite direction, following the pattern that she had remembered.

Arriving outside the correct door, she could see that the panel was green and she depressed the button to find the old man right at the door and ready to strike whoever entered with the small chair from the room. Seeing it was her, the old man put it down as she handed him one of the rifles. They may have been able to barely communicate but they were both warriors and had a rough idea what the other was thinking and left the room, Anya leading the way.

* * *

"Never a dull moment with you, is it Shepard," Wrex said, the Thresher Maw finally retreating when it found out that whatever had come across its nesting grounds was not worth the pain it was causing and left them alone. The trio had checked the ruined vehicle as well as the shanty and found nothing of actionable intel which left the strange pod. It had the same colorings as the hostile vessels that they had both encountered over Therum and then again over this world.

Sophia brought the Mako to a halt beside the pod, moving towards the hatch and stepping out while activating her omni-tool. "Okay, I have the ground scanner activated, if that maw so much as farts, we haul ass back into the Mako, no exceptions." Looking back, she could see that the krogan and turian each gave their own personal acknowledgments once they had extricated themselves from the vehicle. That could be a problem, the Mako was designed for humans so the larger aliens might find it hard to make a quick egress.

Sophia began walking around the pod, taking a look at it, impressed on how durable it really was, given the scarring on the planet's surface she expected to see at least a breach or two, but the pod was essentially intact. The pod was pretty much the same general shape of Alliance pods, but then again everyone seemed to have the general idea of shaping their escape pods like giant soda cans. Although this one was much larger than an Alliance SOS Pod, and as she returned to look inside, she was surprised at what she saw, the inside was not much different than Alliance pods.

"A bit of overkill, Shepard?" Garrus had asked, seeing the same thing that he had, the hull of the escape pod was at least thirty centimeters thick, explaining why it was still intact, the thing was built like a bloody tank. Yet in her mind it made sense, these unknowns seemed to prefer heavily armored ships, it would only make sense that the same philosophy would apply to their escape pods. Stepping inside the pod, she could see that it could carry eight people as she looked around.

Lightly she turned over a flipped case that had a pair of crescents with the curves touching and a horizontal bar running through them in red coloring. She assumed it was a first aid kit, and then laughed at her own preconceptions, speaking aloud. "What did you expect, a cross?"

"What was that, commander?" Garrus asked, who was looking through a gunrack and examining the weapons left there.

"Human first aid kits all have red crosses, you know a vertical red line intersecting a horizontal red line. I've gotten so used to seeing that symbol so everything else looks odd to me." There was a reason for this, Sirta Foundation's flooding of medical supplies, namely medigel had made the 'red cross' nearly a galactic standard. The Swiss would be proud.

"I see, I may have something else here, the pod has weapons but they are rigid." Garrus pulled one of the weapons out of the case, it was heavy as was apparent in the way he held it.

"Go fire a few rounds into the ground outside, tell me what we're looking at," Sophia said, as she stooped down and picked up a piece of fabric that had some blood on it, she would have the doctor run an analysis on it and find out what they were dealing with. She stowed the object in one of her empty ammunition pouches and looked back at Wrex.

"What are you thinking Wrex?" She had already picked up by now that Wrex had a good handle on both people and his environment, far wiser than anyone would admit.

"They're warriors Shepard, without a doubt."

"Just like that? I mean how can you tell?"

"Shepard, the gunrack is by the door and there are enough rifles for each occupant. Most other races just have a strongbox with sidearms while most of the storage space is used for survival gear. But here they got big guns and only one field kit, these guys are expected to land and put up a good fight."

"Your kind of people?"

"Who knows, I mean if they pick good fights, sure but the Rachni picked good fights too. Doesn't mean I like them, just means they are a strong adversary," Wrex said, looking around the pod a bit more, shrugged it off and left. Sophia understood why, there wasn't much to go on, the pod was cold and other than a few discarded medical containers and the weapons there wasn't much to go on. Sophia tossed the containers into the medical kit and closed it up, leaving the pod and securing the kit in a storage locker. It was about this time that Garrus jogged back, setting the heavy weapon down with a grunt and presenting Sophia with the bullets. Bullets?

"Shepard, it's a coilgun. I checked the dimensions, each round is about thirteen point seven millimeters wide by fifty six millimeters long, and I've put the muzzle velocity at around twenty two hundred metres per second. Fire rate is about nine hundred rounds a minute and they carry a twenty five round magazine."

"So what does that mean for us, Garrus," Sophia took one of the rounds from Garrus, it was a large bullet and could do considerable damage but the speed seemed kind of slow.

"Well it means that our kinetic barriers should handle them better than your standard fare ammunition, but if your shields go down, make sure you don't get hit by one of these, they'll most likely shatter your armor very quickly." Garrus explained, looking over at the gun. "These guys must be rather strong as well, that gun weighs about twenty four kilos."

"What's the matter turian, C-Sec making you soft?" Wrex said, picking up the weapon and evaluating it. "On the bright side, it makes logistics real easy."

"No element zero," Sophia returned remembering what Joker said before. "This weapon may not match the quality and penetrating power of our own, but they don't have to worry about trying to stockpile element zero."

"Your right commander, I scanned the weapon and other than a strange composite, I have not detected any rare elements used in its construction." Sophia was about to comment on this when a signal came through.

"Shepard, we just picked up a transport leaving the surface. I think these guys are bugging out." Joker said, much to Sophia's displeasure.

"Damn it, okay people, let's double time it to the facility. Wrex, take that gun with us, we'll let the chief pull it apart when we're done here."

* * *

This was far more than she had bargained for, the garment she was wearing did not allow for full motion of movements as they ran, but on the other hand, her wounded leg would probably have been too much of a distraction in normal pants so it was a toss-up. They rounded another corner and came into another large room, getting behind cover she could see that the old man with her was keeping pace, she had to admit that he was a fighter.

He barked an order at her, and while she didn't understand the language, she learned quickly what the word, 'contact' meant and she leaned out of cover, dropping another soldier that got too close. The weapons were impressive, they had a considerable rate of fire, good accuracy and very little recoil, her own 445 had considerable more kick.

The old man tapped her on the shoulder and they moved right to some more cover, knowing full well that they could not stay in one place as they may have weapons but they still had no armor to speak of and letting the enemy close the distance would mean certain death so they continued this drill. Fire, shift position and repeat a tactic that seemed to be doing rather well, the enemy not being able to get too close. Sophia then realized that the enemy force was starting to ease up.

The answer to why came in a few moments, by the loud bark of a weapon she had not heard before followed by a staccato of automatic weapons fire. Some of the enemy had broken cover and seemed to be moving back towards the source of the noise. Taking advantage of lull in activity, she signalled the old man to stay there while she picked a path that allowed her to circle around the enemy's defenses.

Sure enough, some of the soldiers had taken up position behind cover leading into the far corridor, the few defenders did not have a bead on her position. Anya lined up her shot and opened up on the soldiers, their shields flaring that strange blue and were forced out of cover. What happened next was one of the stranger things that she had ever seen, there was a strange sound and moments later a blue orb of light lifted the soldiers off the ground as they tried to grip onto something. Seconds later, the sound returned except this second orb seemed to impact the first and there was a strange explosion that threw the soldiers savagely in all directions. This forced the few defenders to shift fire on the new threat, but this didn't last long as they were cut down by the unknown force.

"Clear!" Anya called back to the old man as she got out of cover but still walked in such a way that kept the storage crates between her and the corridor. The three unknowns entered the room, she immediately recognized what she assumed to be the leader of the group, she looked rather normal but the other two were what concerned her. She had never seen sapient species with such a vastly different gene mapping than her own people. Sure there was some differences between other races, but this was radically different. The larger one looked like a Chaaridm standing upright with the exception of the head, that she couldn't quite explain, its scars were ample proof it was an aggressive creature. The other looked like an anthropomorphized version of a Skaal with spines running over the top of his head to the back, almost like slicked back hair. Both of them seemed to be stronger, the upright Chaaridm would most likely even give the toughest Vaygr a moment's pause.

The three seemed to converse freely among each other in spite of the fact that they seemed to speak in radically different languages leading her to either believe that they used some sort of translation device or else they all understood each other's languages. The former was more than likely but the fact that they didn't seem to speak a common language said something of these people.

The trio approached her with their weapons at low ready, she was standing at a similar posture while keeping a low shipping crate between them. She wasn't sure what to think when the woman leading the group asked a question in that strange language, it was different than the one that the old man spoke. By force of habit, she slightly tilted her head to one side, curious as to what she was saying. The woman asked the same question again and she noticed that her companions began to raise their weapons when she heard footfalls and the old man pressed her rifle down and spoke up.

"Anya, friends." The old man reassured as this encouraged the others to lower their weapons but the female began asking the old man questions that he seemed to understand.

* * *

Sophia was curious of this human wearing a dress with what they learned was the Cerberus insignia, the woman in question was rather striking. She had a deep olive skin tone with equally dark hair the woman have very nice curves, she was clearly in excellent shape and it was a shape that was very easy on the eyes. Speaking of eyes, she had the most beautiful set of green eyes she had ever seen, accented even more by her darker complexion. Sophia was a sucker for eyes and these ones seemed to draw her in like a singularity, her throat getting a little dry and for a moment she didn't have anything witty to say.

"So Shepard, I assume we're taking this one in for questioning," Garrus said, snapping Sophia out of it.

"Yeah, right. Look miss, I don't know who you are but you are in Cerberus colors and we're going to have to detain you until we sort this out." Sophia was surprised when the woman did not respond, she just seemed to be looking at them, her eyes seemed to be sizing them up all the while she kept that shipping crate between them.

"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to put down that rifle and come with us."

"Looks like she's looking for a fight, Shepard. Good, I was just getting warmed up." Wrex said, and Sophia heard him take the safety off his shotgun and noticed the woman was starting to raise the weapon.

"Don't shoot!" the voice belonged to a man in an Alliance uniform who came out of cover unarmed and ran up to the woman, forcing the barrel of the rifle down and spoke to her. "Anya, glofka."

"What the hell is a glofka?" Garrus spoke up, seeing that the woman abided by what the admiral had said.

"Admiral Kahoku?" Sophia asked, pretty confident that's who she was looking at.

"That's right, thank-you for the save. Speaking of which, I assume you're Shepard given how the man in charge ran like a French armored division."

Sophia chuckled slightly at this, the poor frogs would never live that bad reputation down. "Commander Sophia Shepard at your service, sir." Sophia gave a quick salute, "this is Garrus Vakarian and Urdnot Wrex. Is there anything you can tell us, sir?"

"The organization here is Cerberus, I was captured after I found out this organization was behind getting my men killed on a remote world in a thresher nest by using an Alliance beacon as bait. I don't know what they planned to do with me when they caught me, but they seemed to have lost interest when she showed up."

"Who is she?" Sophia said, glancing over at the woman who gave a courteous smile.

"She is my little guardian angel, the guards here had roughed be up on my last 'interview' and she treated my injuries as best as she could. It would be rude for me to just talk as if she wasn't here so point to yourself and say your name along with who you represent. You won't be disappointed." Admiral Kahoku gave a knowing look and Sophia chose to humor her superior.

"Sophia Shepard, Alliance Navy." Sophia said, pointing to herself and looked at the woman who performed the same action.

"Anya S'jet, laawa'rost Hiigara."

"Laawa'rost Hiigara means as far as I can figure, Hiigaran Navy."

Sophia was speechless at this atom bomb that the admiral had just dropped, verification to what she knew what going on. "Sir, do you mean to tell me that…."

"Commander, we have a first contact situation," the admiral said with a knowing smile.

"Garrus, Wex, secure this facility. I'll call the Normandy for pickup," Sophia said, hailing the Normandy.

"Air Moreau, how may I direct your call," Joker's voice came over the comms.

"Joker, we're ready for dustoff once we sweep for intel. Have Pressly plot a best speed course for the Citadel and send a message to the Council with type designation Most Secret. We need their first contact team standing by." The silence was deafening, "I assume this means you're on it, flight lieutenant?"

"Yes ma'am, right away." Joker's voice finally returned, Sophia knew that from this point on, nothing would ever be the same.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Anya was lead out of the facility by these strange new people, and while she wasn't about ready to trust them, they were far less hostile than these people. They had made a brief stop before leaving the facility, the one called Sophia helped her with a breathing mask and a pack that contained portable oxygen. As they stepped out of the facility, Anya noticed a frigate making its descent, a vessel in similar length to the old Vengeance-class but appeared less robust, these thoughts fled her mind as she felt chills and immediately wanted to be someplace warmer as she was lead to a wheeled vehicle and while the hatch was a little difficult to navigate she made it inside and found a seat in the back and thankfully it was heated.

She sat in the vehicle alone for a while until the hatch opened up again and others began to clamor inside, the first was the large alien named Wrex followed by the one called Garrus and lastly by the admiral and Sophia. The only one to sit in the back with her was the admiral while the rest were up front in what looked like a rather crowded crew compartment. The admiral gave her a reassuring smile, which was at least something, he knew these people so she felt a little less uneasy. Anya felt the vehicle roll forward and felt a bump and a tilt, forcing her to grab the handle overhead from toppling over.

Soon the vehicle came to a halt and the hatch opened up, the leader of the group opening the hatch and gesturing for Anya to step through. Her boots clanked against deck plating as she looked around at her new surroundings, the small frigate was deceptively large to which Anya wondered how thin the ship's hull was. Yet it was obvious that this was a well-designed ship, the smooth lines and bulkheads were evidence of this so she decided the design was at least trustworthy.

"Welcome back, ma'am. Who's the lady in the dress?" The voice caught her off guard, mostly because the comment was spoken in flawless Progenitor dialect.

"My name is Anya S'jet of the Hiigaran people. I didn't know any of you spoke the tongue of the Progenitors." Anya managed to formulate, the Hiigaran accent with its longer vowel sounds tended to distort some pronunciations but she was certain that the woman could understand her.

"Wait, you can understand me?"

"Yes, although I must admit that my proclamations…no, that's not quite…pronunciations are not quite right." This seemed to shock the woman in dark hair even more who looked to the leader.

"Shepard, she can understand me!" The woman said loudly, the one they called Shepard just stared at her and after a few strange actions they looked back at her, the woman with the dark hair and eyes spoke up again. "Please come with us to our medical facilities, we have an expert up there and I need your help."

"Help with what?" Anya asked skeptically not wanting to risk divulging anything important about her people, something that could be used against them.

"This language I'm speaking, no one understands it. I had a run-in with some tech that is not our own, and as a result I can understand them with the use of my translator but can only speak this language that I have no idea what it means. To me I seem to be speaking like I always have but to them I am speaking a foreign tongue. With the help of our science team, we should be able to develop translation software so we can all understand each other." The woman seemed desperate, Anya could see it in her eyes and she knew that without a way to effectively communicate she would have no way of contacting the _Khar-Valesk_.

"Very well, miss?" Anya began with a questioning tone.

"Ashley Williams, my name is Ashley Williams," the woman said as the group headed to what looked like some sort of lift. The two creatures that she had met earlier chose to stay in the large room while the admiral, Shepard, Ashley and herself were in the lift heading up, Anya looked over at Ashley and noticed she hand her eyes closed and seemed to be wincing.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I've been getting headaches since that beacon and sometimes it's hard to ignore."

Anya thought about this for a moment, and then the thought hit her. "Is it like a metallic scraping sound, almost as if being in a large room with everyone shouting all at once?"

Ashely looked up at her, "yes, exactly like that."

"The Progenitors have given you a great gift, you can now hear."

"Wait, what are you talking about?"

"Most of us cannot hear or see, the Bentusi referred to it as 'flicker lives' they say it does not allow us to know what is clearly there. You must be suffering the effects of not having a core to filter all this stimulus. I'm guessing that the worst ones are when there are plenty of vessels in the proximity." Anya explained, she tried her best to explain the basics of neural interface the best she could but this seemed to be backwards. People did not manifest these symptoms until after a spending some time being integrated perhaps there was much more to hyperspace technology than even she understood.

"Wait, what?"

"You have been granted a rare gift."

"If this is a gift, these Progenitors can take it back. The only thing it has done is make me feel like a damn alien among my own species and turn my head into mush. Along with the damn visions and a meeting with that Sajuuk guy, I don't know what to think."

"Wait, you've seen a Progenitor?" Anya was not ready for that, were they actually alive in this galaxy?

"Well, these people called themselves Valetians, but there was a guy named Sajuuk and he had some idea about a new technology but his people couldn't take it to its full potential and was looking for the right species that could be modified to its needs. Wait, is that you?" Ashely had asked as the door opened and they followed Shepard towards the medical ward.

"I don't know, our people used to worship Sajuuk as the Great Maker, he whose hand shapes what is. It is possible." Anya responded as they entered the room where an elderly woman was sitting behind a desk. The woman spoke some words, clearly Ashley found a way that they could at least understand the commands.

"The doctor wants us to lay down on these beds, she has scanners to map our brain patterns and with any luck we can begin work on the translator." These words made it to Anya's ears but her attention was drawn to the far door that had opened revealing two new creatures that were as peculiar as the first two she had encountered. The one at least looked similar to herself except her skin was blue and a strange skull structure that reminded her of aquatic creatures. The second was much smaller in some sort of suit that completely covered her body? Anya was working on basic dimorphisms and assumed that she was a she, but what struck her was the very slender structure, and primarily the structure of her limbs.

Perhaps the seeing theory was not a theory but fact, here there were countless species of varying appearances while in her own galaxy everyone had the same basic appearances with only relatively minor variations. Hiigaran, Vaygr, Taiidan and all the others could pass as 'human' while here there was a massive biodiversity among sapient races.

Anya laid down on the bed as a large machine was brought over with a curved panel, she didn't hear or feel any change but based on the activity, she could tell that there was some activity. She also noticed that their leader handed something to the older woman who began to do something with it, she couldn't really tell what from this angle.

At this time, she noticed that the alien Garrus had returned and was holding her rifle and speaking first to Shepard she handed the weapon over to the small suited alien. They planned on analyzing their tech? If the Daiamid found out she just let this happen.

"Stop, I can't let you do that," Anya protested.

"Relax, they've just never seen something like that. Hell, I've never seen a gun like that, it looks like a throwback from the early 21st century." Ashley commented trying to reassure her as Shepard approached her, clearly trying to calm her down.

Anya rested her head back down on the pillow, there really wasn't much she could do about it right now, and it wasn't like the flechette rifle was the pinnacle of Hiigaran engineering. So for now, she figured it would best to play along as she really didn't have much choice.

* * *

Sophia stopped what she was doing when she heard Anya speak up, it was most likely due to Garrus handing Tali that smaller rifle they found in the Cerberus base. That made much more sense, a weapon that only weighed about five kilograms, much more suitable for her than the monsters they found in the escape pod. While she had no idea what the language was, she was intrigued by it, not quite the same as the one that Ashley was speaking, this one seemed very poetic in the way it flowed.

As Tali left the room with the rifle in hand, talking to herself as she was already analyzing the weapon, Sophia looked over at Ashley. "Can you explain to Anya here that Liara here is going to join minds with her so we can get an understanding of her language?" Sophia watched as the two conversed back and forth, the doctor had finished with the scans so she put the medical equipment to the side. Soon she could tell by the way that the words were spoken that things were getting very heated until Anya shot a glaring look at Liara. Sophia would never forget that look, and most likely neither would Liara it was a look of bone-chilling defiance.

"Shepard, I can't risk melding with a resistant mind. I could probably obtain the information but I would risk injuring her mind," Liara said, backing off somewhat and not that she could blame her. The way that the woman's demeanor had suddenly changed was a little frightening. Looked like they were doing things the old fashioned way, much to her disappointment.

"Ash, just tell Anya that we'll do this the old way. I'll say certain words and when you relay them to her, ask her to speak them and we'll begin formulating terms and work our way up from there. First, ask her to count up to ten." Sophia turned on the translation recorder as Anya began to speak.

"Kar, Var, See, Vavar, Gaf, Seevar, Maala, Amaala, Aylsaa, Vargaf." The woman spoke out, it was just a start and it would take some time to get even rudimentary language, but if this worked, it appeared it wouldn't take much to adapt the program for Ashley which what she was more interested in at the moment with Saren's pressing engagement with her Alliance-issue boot. This went on for a couple hours until Sophia stretched, her back popping a little from sitting so long. They had a basic program working, although Anya explained basically that it 'off sound' which she understood to mean the VI butchered her language whenever it formulated but that was to be expected until they could properly program in the pronunciations.

"Anya, let's stop. Take break," Sophia said, not making the mistake of using complex terminology yet as it was still a very basic translation software.

Gesturing to follow, the three of them left the room, the admiral had long since made his way up to the communications room as he had a rather extensive report to file with fifth fleet. Cerberus was once just another organization of some concern, but after what they did to Kahoku they were now squarely in the Alliance's sights. She only got bits and pieces of the information, it had something to do with genetics and modifying the human genome to create the perfect soldier.

They rounded the corner and had a seat at the table, Kaiden who was working at his station saw the three of them and took the moment to join them as they sat down. "So this is the Cerberus defector?"

Sophia knew that the translator would have jumbled at that one. "No Kaiden, she was captured by Cerberus about eight hours before we arrived."

"So why is she wearing clothes in Cerberus colors?"

"Good question," Sophia said looking over at Anya. "Why this?" she said, referring to the dress.

"Injury, leg. Taiidan weapon, like inside." Anya said, referring to the weapon they had in the back of the Mako.

"Wait, you're injured? Why didn't you inform the doctor?" This got just a confused look so she looked over at Ashley who repeated the question in what they now knew was Progenitor.

"Healing, no risk."

"Wait, Shepard. She can understand Ashley?" Kaiden asked, clearly not in the loop.

"Sorry, forgot you weren't around for introductions. I was going to explain everything to the team when we arrived at the Citadel. Kaiden, this is Anya S'jet of the Hiigaran people."

"Commander, what did you say?"

"You heard me right, lieutenant. She is not human, the doc verified it."

"How is this even possible, I mean she looks so human," Kaiden replied, clearly he was not sure he believed what he was hearing.

"Sure she looks human, but doctor Chakwas has explained that there are certain genetic markers in her DNA that do not match with any groups of humans. Her neural patterns are different as well, so while she may look like us, everything else is just as alien as the turain or asari."

"So are we to assume these Hiigarans are like the Taiidan?" Kaiden offered, Anya giving a look that made the entire room go quiet.

"Taiidan….paaura," Anya said in a low tone, Ashley just giving a confused look, she was unsure of what that word meant.

"Hey Ash, why don't you and Kaiden go and grab some lunch for us before our guest and him end up in a round of fisticuffs." Sophia offered, clearly these Taiidan were a very touchy subject. After they left, Sophia wanted to find out more about these two groups and more importantly what their intentions were in council space.

"So, Anya. These Taiidan are enemies?"

The woman looked at her, apparently judging the words before she began to speak. "Children of Hiigara and children of Taiidan…foes. For all time."

"You will never make peace with them?" Sophia could feel a hatred in the words, something that was clearly conveyed. She began to wonder why they were enemies to begin with as she was a student of history and not matter the gulf, firmly believed there could be peace.

"Us and Taiidan, no shoot? Yes. Brought into our tents? Never."

Sophia's brow wrinkled at this, a peace founded on mistrust and animosity never lasted. Surely there was a time when they were not sworn enemies, conflicts ended. "How long have you been enemies?"

Sophia could see the woman look at her, clearly she was thinking about something before she looked back at her. "Almost five thousand years."

Five thousand years? The very thought was staggering, then something hit her like a ton of bricks as she formulated her words as Kaiden and Ashley had returned with their lunch. "Anya, Taiidan and Hiigaran, same home or far away?" Sophia asked, making out a sphere with her hands.

"No, far away."

If what was said were to be believed as true, the Hiigarans were travelling the stars when her people had devised Cuneiform. At the very least, they were at a level of civilization on par with the Council races.

"What did they do that you can't bring them in?" Sophia continued, she could see that Anya stiffened at this question and that she blinked several times, most likely trying to contain what she was about to say.

"Kharak," was all she said, her voice was softer as though speaking that name was sacred.

"Well, what can you tell me about the Taiidan?" Sophia figured if she could let her know what kind of enemy they were facing, the council would take serious steps. She noticed that Anya was thinking hard about what she said next.

"Ships, many and…the weapon."

"The…weapon?" Sophia wondered what she was talking about when she noticed the woman seemed to get a little emotional again.

"Planet with life….the weapon…no life." The weapon was a super weapon. No, that was too simple, it was clear this was more, she was referring to a device that could trigger an extinction level event, but that was impossible, right? Looking over at the meals, she decided it was probably best to stop probing with incessant questions for now, the council would have enough of those.

"Okay, no more questions. Let's eat."

"Na ma'alk toviir rees sheel," Sophia heard Ashley say to Anya, actually getting a laugh out of her. Well, it was a start.


End file.
